Shapes of Tourism Employment HRM in the Worlds of Hotels and Air Transport

Introduction xi
Gwenaëlle GREFE and Dominique PEYRAT-GUILLARD

Part 1 Managing the Human Resources of Hotel Companies in the Face of Third Tourism Revolution Disruptions 1

Introduction to Part 1 3

Chapter 1 Disruption and the Strategy of Hotel Groups 9
Régis DUMOULIN and Aurore GIACOMEL

1.1 The hotel market: multinational companies and new players 9

1.1.1 Airbnb 11

1.1.2 Online travel agencies 11

1.1.3 International issues 12

1.2 Strategic responses from the world’s leading hotels 14

1.2.1 The positioning of groups in terms of hotel segments and ranges 15

1.2.2 Diversification strategies 16

1.2.3 Digitalization strategies 17

1.2.4 Hypercompetition and hypervariety of service 18

1.3 Conclusion 19

1.4 References 20

Chapter 2 Front-Office Jobs in the Age of Soft Skills 23
Aurore GIACOMEL and Benoît RAVELEAU

2.1 Toward a strong presence of soft skills in front-office jobs 23

2.2 Professionalization in front-office jobs, specificities that are tested in practice 25

2.3 The skills and work experience of front-line employees 30

2.4 Recruitment by soft skills and their difficult assessment 32

2.5 Conclusion 34

2.6 References 35

Chapter 3 The Upgrading of Skills for the Back Office, Middle Line and Support Staff 39
Gwenaëlle GREFE

3.1 The historical development of professions 39

3.2 Skills development in a context of forced internationalization 40

3.2.1 Internationalization, the target of high flyers 40

3.2.2 Internationalization as a lever for reconfiguring and separating professions 43

3.3 The rise in skills of the back office professions and support staff in the context of digitalization 45

3.3.1 The establishment of expert teams 46

3.3.2 New functional and operational professions 47

3.4 The rise in back office skills and support staff professions in the face of the dual quest for enrichment and sustainability 48

3.4.1 The diffusion of the economy of enrichment within the heritage hotel sector: the challenge of competencies 49

3.4.2 From the globalized economy to the sustainable economy: the search for and activation of new skills? 50

3.5 Conclusion 51

3.6 References 52

Chapter 4 Employee Turnover: HRM Challenges to Develop Commitment and Job Satisfaction 55
Brigitte CHARLES-PAUVERS

4.1 Problematic loyalty… 55

4.2 …challenged to develop necessary commitment and satisfaction at work 57

4.3 Creating the conditions for commitment and satisfaction 58

4.3.1 Recruitment 60

4.3.2 Training and development 61

4.3.3 Remuneration 61

4.3.4 Support from managers 62

4.4 Conclusion 62

4.5 References 63

Chapter 5 The Globalized Hotel Business: Worlds within a World 67
Aurore GIACOMEL and Régis DUMOULIN

5.1 Worlds at stake and human resource management 67

5.2 From the traditional concept of hospitality to the globalized hotel sector 68

5.3 Diversity of hotel structures and HRM 69

5.4 Diversity of professions and versatility of staff 70

5.5 New segmentations and culture of change in HR 71

5.6 Globalization: harmonizing HR cultures 73

5.7 Conclusion 75

5.8 References 75

Chapter 6 The Hospitality World in Poland: A Dynamic Industry in Search of Soft Skills 77
Aldona GLIŃSKA-NEWEŚ, Rafal HAFFER, Joanna WIŃSKA and Barbara JÓZEFOWICZ

6.1 Introduction: overview of the hotel industry in Poland 77

6.2 Soft skills and a sense of meaningful work 81

6.3 Soft skills in practice: a case study 84

6.4 Conclusion: HR progress recommendations for the hotel industry in Poland 89

6.5 References 91

Chapter 7 International Hotel Groups and their Entrenchment in Mainland China 95
Hong ZHU

7.1 The development of international hotels in China 95

7.2 The challenge of intercultural management 96

7.2.1 The case of the Ritz-Carlton in China 100

7.3 Challenges in retaining employees 101

7.4 Conclusion 105

7.5 References 105

Part 2 Managing the Human Resources of Air Transport Companies in the Face of Third Tourism Revolution Disruptions 109

Introduction to Part 2 111

Chapter 8 Rebuilding of Flag Carrier Airline Companies and Historical Value Violations 115
Gwenaëlle GREFE

8.1 National companies conquering the world: a historical background 115

8.1.1 The impetus of the Paris Convention and the rise of the interwar period 115

8.1.2 The acceleration given to air transport by the Chicago Convention 117

8.2 Flag-carrying companies in the age of globalization: toward historical value chains 119

8.2.1 American deregulation: an anticipation of globalization in Europe 120

8.2.2 The liberalization of the European sky and its consequences on the majors, at all levels 121

8.3 Conclusion 127

8.4 References 128

Chapter 9 Aircrew Conflict Management: Divisions and Continuity within the Ranks of the Majors 131
Gwenaëlle GREFE and Dominique PEYRAT-GUILLARD

9.1 Two jobs for the same condition 131

9.2 Flight crew, a class with comparable professional identities, difficult to integrate into traditional human resource management systems 132

9.3 Flight crew, the target of successive restructuring plans leading to separate corporate struggles 138

9.3.1 Cabin crew facing the challenge of trivializing their occupation 138

9.3.2 Flight deck crew in need of joint management 145

9.4 Conclusion 150

9.5 References 152

Chapter 10 Ground Personnel Exposed to Headwinds: Restructuring on Land in Response to Air Deregulation 155
Gwenaëlle GREFE

10.1 The ground worlds 155

10.2 Between ground and sky, the suspended world of air traffic controllers 157

10.3 Ground operations personnel, an adjustment variable in any context 162

10.3.1 Groundstaff: the immediate targets of legacies’ restructuring plans 162

10.3.2 ADP staff concerns 164

10.3.3 Deregulation and outsourcing of ground handling activities 166

10.4 Conclusion 170

10.5 References 170

Chapter 11 The Psychological Bonds between Airline Pilots and their Work: From Passion to Reason 173
Dominique PEYRAT-GUILLARD and Gwenaëlle GREFE

11.1 Airline pilot, from dream job to the psychological bonds experienced 173

11.1.1 Flying, a child’s dream 173

11.1.2 An emotional bond of identification with the profession threatened by societal and organizational developments 175

11.2 The particularity of the bond with the organization 177

11.2.1 From an idealized organization.. 177

11.2.2… to an instrumental, or even a simple acquiescence bond 178

11.3 Which HR policy? 180

11.3.1 Recruitment difficulties in the face of an announced shortage 180

11.3.2 Constrained career management 181

11.3.3 A social dialogue hampered by the impossibility of defending one’s profession 182

11.4 Conclusion 183

11.5 References 183

Chapter 12 The World of Companies Pro Social No Frills 187
Gwenaëlle GREFE

12.1 A world without social frills 187

12.2 The chaotic regime of charter airline personnel in the face of the widespread use of “sun destination planes” 188

12.3 Dark management at low-cost airlines: human resource management abuses 192

12.3.1 Social dumping and circumvention of European labor law 192

12.3.2 Human resource management optimization 198

12.3.3 From social dialogue avoidance to accommodation 201

12.4 Conclusion 203

12.5 References 204

Chapter 13 Hybrid Companies, Inclined to Reasoned Human Resource Management 209
Gwenaëlle GREFE

13.1 A hybridization of models 209

13.2 At the origin of the invention of low cost, a model based on employee commitment 210

13.3 The low-cost imitation strategy 212

13.3.1 The temptation of switching to low cost: the case of Aer Lingus 213

13.3.2 The inclusion of low-cost as a response: the choice of duplication and subsidization of medium-haul flights 216

13.4 Conclusion 220

13.5 Appendix: the Middle East airline world 221

13.6 References 223

Conclusion 225
Gwenaëlle GREFE and Dominique PEYRAT-GUILLARD

List and Biographies of Authors 227

Index 231