LITERATURE REVIEW
STAKEHOLDERS’ MANAGEMENT IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
INTRODUCTION
One of the major issues faced by present-day hospitality managers is the quality delivery of products and services to end customers and tourist guests. Setting up standards is difficult, and increased global competitiveness is creating more issues in hospitality markets.
A number of tools and techniques are available to improve service quality and enhance the sustainability of the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, to support better management, the cost-benefit analysis of hospitality services needs to be assessed beforehand.
The participation of the stakeholders plays the most crucial role in supporting the success of hospitality management. The stakeholders value quality over quantity, and financial support is overshadowed by the great ambience, scenic beauty, amenities, and other perquisites.
All the mentioned factors support profitability excellence, and the stakeholders support the various hospitality functions of employment generation, quality management, staff training and orientation programs, eco-accreditation benchmark labelling, and improved service quality management.
The stakeholders will enrich the corporate responsibility approach and enable the hospitality industry to deliver quality services to the end customers timely and conveniently. The hospitality industry needs the holistic support of the stakeholders, and their decision-making approach will enable better and improved management of the various tourism operations.
The full participation of the stakeholders in management will enable the hospitality industry to flourish and develop in the future.
ANALYTICAL DISCUSSION AND THEORETICAL SUPPORT
The management of stakeholders in the hospitality industry is not a narrow concept and requires elaborate analysis to support the required evidence. Research on this topic was carried out extensively, and the final conclusion drawn suffered from biases.
Various researchers have put their reviews in a varied manner to enhance the credibility of the topic. The aim of this review paper is to critically explain the various literary supports as proposed by a number of scholars over time and finally infer the core significance of the topic in relation to hospitality management.
A total of fifteen journal articles are considered, and their main themes are analyzed below.
According to C\’espedes-Lorente, Burgos-Jim\’enez & \’Alvarez-Gil (2003), the stakeholder’s management support in relation to environmental influences is considered and analyzed with empirical support of their significance to hospitality industries in Spain.
The situation, though, is narrowed down to Spain, but in actuality, it reflects a global perspective and is no different from other countries worldwide. The stakeholders’ theory in relation to environmental management is explored to enhance the legitimacy of the firms and the power response of the related stakeholders thereupon.
The results show that corporate environmental practices explicitly and tacitly support stakeholders’ power culture towards environmental concerns, issue mitigation and environment protection. The most prominent criticism is the increased focus on environmental concerns has provided a narrowed and biased focus on stakeholder management approaches in hospitality management.
As Kleynhans (2011) opined, the main focus is on increased Corporate Social Responsibility and stakeholders’ societal outlooks. Though the concept of CSR is new, its rising demand for corporate and hospitality industries cannot be ignored.
CSR strategies support the stakeholders in enhancing the durability and trustworthiness of their established policies supporting business and management ethics and enabling them to take up newer business opportunities. The CSR activities increase the stakeholder’s commitment levels, which is required the most in the tourism industries.
The hotels support core values in enhancing employment opportunities and the country’s GDP. CSR policies in this regard will support the sustainability and long-term profitability of the hospitality industries. The review is not free of criticism, and the major criticisms include areas of positive turnover generation, deployment of CSR communication plans, and support of the niche market globally.
Management decisions are dependent on CSR plans, and industries’ economic and financial performances largely affect the relevant plans. Hence, competitive advantages could be gained from both customers’ and shareholders’ perspectives.
Ethical business practices could be supported, and the social impacts will have positive consequences. However, much flexibility in the CSR policies will hamper the organizational structure and the balance in the positional hierarchy.
The other approach to stakeholders’ management, as proposed by Abaeian, Yeoh, and Khong (2011), emphasizes the strategic stakeholders management theory in regard to hospitality management. The increased competition and chaos in present-day businesses have created an environment where the hospitality industry operates under huge pressure and increased risks.
The shareholders, employees, competitors, governmental agencies, suppliers, people, public, customers, strategic partners, and other third parties will increase management, and the increased support will positively impact their relationship-building opportunities.
Strategic management supports each of the normative, instrumental, and descriptive thesis, which relate to stakeholders’ support. However, strategic support is complex and needs constant monitoring to achieve the desired results.
The prospects of the wealth maximization approach proposed by Yilmaz & Gunel (2008) will largely support stakeholders’ engagement. Economic profitability will enhance the firm’s wealth maximization criteria, and the hospitality industries will have higher support for this shareholders’ approach.
Day-to-day business operations could be systematized, and management would not face operational difficulties. Socio-economic advantages could be gained, and the hospitality industry would have a higher sustainable base. Increased support would reduce the negative impacts, and results could be achieved economically.
Another supportive theory in regard to stakeholders’ participation in management is propounded by Assante, Mulaj, Resorts & Steed (2009). The workforce strategy for the Tourism and hospitality industry collaborates with both governmental support and stakeholders’ participation.
The initiation of the strategy draft will help validate input, and final documentation will support the relevancy of the partnership programs. Encouragement from the stakeholders will enable increased workforce performance levels, and higher motivation will give rise to higher productivity.
The hospitality industry, being a labour-intensive service industry, will require increased participation from both management and employees. The support will enable tuned decision-making, and thus, tourism organizations will have higher success and productivity. Long-term profitability will increase, and that will help in dealing with negative results and risky environments.
Healthy competition could be supported, and turnover rates will show reduced trends in the future. Thus, the stakeholders should support the management decision-making activities that are in compliance with employee benefits and employee support. However, too much dependency will hinder the decision-making independence and could cause the firm to incur losses.
Another important theoretical background in relation to stakeholders’ management in hospitality industries was proposed by Barber, Deale & Goodman (2011), which supports the business model of the ‘triple bottom line’ concept of the key aspects of people, profit and the planet.
These three baselines are essential in the hospitality industry, and fulfilling these basic needs will help gain sustainability and competitive advantage worldwide. The concept is to improve the negative impacts of social and environmental causes by supporting positive operational results.
The shareholders’ participation in management will induce higher sustainable profit achievements, reduce environmental footprints, and support community and employee development at large. The stakeholders’ management practices will help achieve socio-economic and cultural support.
The negative impacts of misuse of the ‘triple bottom line’ concept will cause the hospitality industry to face increased business difficulties.
Another significant concept was propounded by Paek (2011), which depicts the key responsibility centres in the hospitality industry. A hotel is responsible to itself, and other major contributors include internal stakeholders like managers, owners, and employees.
External stakeholders’ responsibility cannot be denied, and customer support largely affects a company’s value chain. The increased rate of financial and business scandals worldwide is questioning the relevance and trustworthiness of the hospitality industry’s ethical support.
The implementation of an integrated ICT (Information and Communication Technology) system will increase business transparency, and shareholders’ decision-making in this regard will play a significant role in supporting an ethical information system for businesses, especially in this genre of industries.
The empirical support for stakeholder perception in hospitality industries was best opined by Patrus, de Carvalho Neto, Coelho & de Sousa Teod\’osio (2013). Crisis management within hospitality industries will require intense stakeholders’ relationship management and practical implications will increase tourist awareness and the effectiveness of the crisis management tools will be increased.
Stakeholders’ management will support increased communication and trust and the negative impacts of crisis could be reduced largely. The integrated approach will provide industry specifications and thus opportunity alternatives will increase considerably.
The recent Global Financial Crisis will widen the impacts of the crisis in the hospitality industries, and the most effective decision-making by the stakeholders in this regard will enable better management practices. However, organizational conflicts may, at times, be constructive and yield fruitful results. Sometimes, worrying relationships could lead to the most demanding solution to crisis management.
The concept of disaster management, put forward by Barent and others (2012), widened the scope of mitigation of negative impacts. Disasters are unforeseen and unpredictable, and the hospitality industry faces huge problems from both natural and man-made disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts, terrorist attacks, and security challenges.
Shareholders’ participation in management in this regard will help in entailing both proactive and reactive solution planning. The scope of risk management will increase, and thus, resource valuation will increase, thus widening the scope of business partnerships in hospitality industries.
The stakeholders, like strategic managers, should make active decisions about planning operational disaster management. Disasters cannot be uprooted solely but can only be reduced and controlled to some extent.
The other most important aspect of shareholders’ management is the support of workplace health and safety in the hospitality industries, propounded by Ribeiro, Alves, Torres & others (2012). Being labor intensive industry the hospitality industries need to have the most effective framework of health and safety rules.
The stakeholders are responsible for taking corrective measures to mitigate risk caused by workplace accidents and health hazards. The stakeholders’ management strategies should improve poor safety management tools and increase the line of control.
The stakeholders should constantly monitor and evaluate the various work health and safety policies and abide by their predefined responsibility areas. Controlling work risks is difficult, and it negatively impacts relationship management within the hospitality industries.
The concept of ICT in hospitality management, as opined by van Rheede & Blomme (2013), has revolutionized the industry’s operational mode. The advent of the Internet has increased shareholders’ participation and control in management practices.
The communication approach has become so vast and systematic that there are few chances of coercion and fraud. The introduction of Payment Management Systems (PMS), Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS), and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has increased the flow of tourists and their attractions considerably.
The emergence of social media like blogging, RSS, Widgets, chat rooms, podcasts, photo, and video sharing will increase the marketing buzz in the hospitality industries and enable viral marketing of tourist services. The stakeholders should be open to technological support, and the customer base will thus be improved largely. But the other side of technological advancement is fierce, and it leads to serious security issues.
The support of the hospitality management programs as opined by Welford, Chan & Man (2008) emphasis on the aspects of setting up of hospitality research centers for valuable information sharing will have enhanced documentation facilities and every corner of the world, including rural areas, could be considered to have wider business opportunities of tourism.
The programs will promote participation and support of the customers, which will, in turn, positively increase the sustainability of the industries. The primary initiative should be taken by the stakeholders, and they should encourage other staff to have active participation in the programs. The valuation programs will ultimately increase.
Another aspect of hospitality industries as proposed by Mhizha & Mandebvu (2012) is the concept of curriculum formation and supporting educational outlooks at large. The stakeholder’s perceptions and competencies will increase not only business opportunities but will also support education and the development of the nation will be increased considerably.
Thus, stakeholders’ management practices are not limited to the business world but are linked to the whole development of the nation. The increased flow of students and other educationists will cause the GDP to rise, and the popularity of the place will also increase.
CONCLUSION
Thus, to conclude the review paper, it could be opined that the hospitality industry is developing at a rapid pace, and the stakeholders, along with the governmental support, are providing the required strategic growth plans and elementary support to its development.
The consciousness has increased, and the management support of hospitality organizations has been uplifted. The stakeholders’ management decision-making will lead the emerging countries to a well-articulated ‘tourist hub’, and thus, the countries’ global positioning will improve.
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