African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (May 2019)
The Implementation of Human Resources Management Strategy within Restaurants in East London, South Africa.
Abstract
Investors are generally ensuring a sufficient return on investment by crafting and implementing relevant strategies and look for excellence in what they invest in, especially when it comes to restaurants. The study sought to investigate the implementation of human resources management strategy within restaurants in a sample of businesses in the hospitality industry specifically in the context of tough economic times. Amongst such strategies, the human resource strategy is the most critical as some organisations tend to devote less time on it and hence lost their game in the market. A survey methodology and the population consisted of hospitality supervisors and managers involved in the hospitality industry was adapted. Questionnaires were distributed at a selected restaurants, and a sample size of 220 supervisors and managers was used in the study. The questionnaires were the main instrument used to collect data. The research suggests that there are still noticeable labour profile imbalances in restaurant operations, which can only be addressed by implementing sound HR strategies. The literature review conducted in the study revealed that HR strategy implementation is not only the social system issue as it is predominantly branded to be, but in essence it is also a technical, business and financial system of relevance. The results of the study proved that in all dimensions of HR strategy implementation there is a social component, technical component, business efficiency component and a financial component. The managers in the study indicated that they have insufficient knowledge on HR issues and are however forced to run their restaurants with regard to HR issues. Therefore, it is recommended that training should be given to all restaurant managers on basic HR issues, and that the HR policy should be revisited. Restaurant managers have to revamp their HR practices if they wish to remain competitive in the global market.
