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This chapter discusses key training challenges that organizations need to confront with the objective of building a robust human resource management system. Given the dynamics of the current business environment, training and development has become an indispensable function in global organizations. Building an effective human capital that contributes to continual organizational growth has become the established norm to survive in a competitive business landscape. However, the training and development function is often rendered ineffective, on account of various bottlenecks existing in the organization. Addressing these bottlenecks is quintessential in ensuring the creation of a performance-driven human capital. The goal of this chapter is to draw attention to the training impediments that hinder organizational growth and to diagnose the underlying causes for the same. This chapter concludes with recommendations that organizational decision-makers can leverage in their quest to strengthen the human capital, by utilizing their training and development infrastructure optimally.

Describes the labour economics of the hotel and catering industry, which produce two characteristics: individual contracts and low unionization. Draws parallels between the free market behaviour of this traditional industry and the general direction of change in the industry as a whole. Suggests that greater insecurity, a heightened sense of immediacy in tasks, and more unsocial hours may lead to a propensity for mobility and a lack of organizational commitment – behaviour which is familiar in the hotel and catering industry.

The paper addresses the relationship between a tourism authority and micro‐tourism businesses in terms of information access and use. The background is the commonly found dysfunction between the strategic intentions of a locality and small business performance. Information seeking is examined theoretically through its relationship to human capital. Given the evidence of entrance to the industry from outside it, it was thought that lack of tourism training would influence information seeking. The study confirmed the low levels of human capital, a modest interest in the larger picture but no evidence of the impact on decision‐making. The study also raises the issue of whether the use of the Internet separates small businesses from the regional tourism strategy.

Reports on a study testing five attitudes on a sample of hotel workers and a control group. As the literature of service work suggests, most hotel workers place great value on scope and autonomy in a job; it was expected they would show more positive attitudes to these attributes than the control. The results were negative. Draws the conclusion that such attributes are problematic in that the attitude may represent a valued need or an unfulfilled need.

Hotels require flexibility in their labour supply to match fluctuations in consumer demand. In non‐union circumstances managers take a neo‐classical approach, applying numerical and financial flexibility. What happens when collective bargaining is involved? An analysis of collective agreements from six countries shows that the economic impressions are institutionalized by agreement. In this way unionized hotels operate in the same way as non‐unionized hotels but with formalized rules. Assesses the prospects for functional flexibility.

The structure of decision making in hotels is examined. Using three levels of authority and 13 categories of decision a problem of consultation and communication is measured. The degree of structure in the problem is measured using information theory. In the light of the findings which show a modest degree of structure, the article discusses how far hotels approximate to the classic bureaucratic model.

The paper is a reflection on the changes that have taken place in the area of food and beverage and serves as a reminder that it is still one of the most complex activities within the area of hospitality.

The paper highlights major changes, with particular emphasis on marketing and the rising influence of design. However, the basic argument is that the changes that have taken place during the last two decades are essentially add‐ons to the basic activities of the function: very little has fallen away. In other words, although technological advances, particularly in the kitchen, and the invasion of modern business techniques, such as branding and business process engineering, have brought new activities, the need for the traditional knowledge and skills remains. This makes modern food and beverage management an even more complex activity but an exciting one.

The paper acknowledges the changing career patterns of those with food and beverage backgrounds but suspects that it is skill the bedrock of hotel management.

The paper defends the case for food and beverage training within hospitality management courses but acknowledges the problems associated with this.

The conclusion drawn is that educational decisions need a full appraisal of the functions of modern food and beverage management: which is the purpose of this paper.

The research takes as its starting point the possibility of prejudice between workers which would, even in the absence of competition, prevent them associating as their interests would dictate.

The study reported here focuses on the world of professional conference managers and hotel managers and tests for a degree of consensus between them as to what attributes are salient to the selection of a hotel as a conference venue. Both a strong consensus and an operational rather than a facilities focus emerges. The suspicion is raised that re‐occurring operational problems lie behind the consensus.

Describes a research study into the use of practical food and beverage facilities – the teaching restaurant and production kitchen – in undergraduate degree courses in hospitality management. Discusses the priority placed on the possession and use of these facilities and their relevance.