小企业的招聘与培训人力资源外文文献及翻译大学论文Word文档下载推荐.docx

1、Recruitment; Training; Small firms; Hospitality; Tourism.BackgroundSmall firms and trainingAlthough definitions of small firms have been extensively debated, there is no disagreement that the most commonly found tourism or hospitality enterprise is small （Thomas, 1998）. To date, very little research

2、 has been conducted in these organisations. This is no surprise and as Matlay argues:The issue of training in the small business sector of the British economy has largely been neglected by academic researchers and human resource planning, development and management specialists who, until recently, w

3、ere content to suggest solutions which were more relevant to the businesses strategies of larger firms （Matlay, 1996, p. 648）. This is supported by Johnson and Gubbins （1992, pp. 28-9） who suggest that:relatively little is known about the extent, nature and determinants of training in small and medi

4、um-sized businesses, either on a national or on a local basis. It is argued that with the growth of tourism and hospitality and the importance of human resources within them this neglect should not continue.Research conducted in hospitality and tourism firms of all sizes has discovered that informal

5、ity and a relatively unsophisticated management style characterise the approach taken towards recruitment and training （Goldsmith et al., 1997; Price, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Baum, 1995）. Research on recruitment and training in small firms in general （Jameson, 1998） has also indicated that an informal ap

6、proach towards the management of human resources is the norm in these firms. One of the major themes in small business literature has been the examination of the informality of relations between employers and employees. A correlation has been found to exist between the size of firm and level of form

7、ality in various sectors of the economy （see, for example, Scott et al. （1989）; Curran et al. （1993）. Research conducted specifically in hospitality firms （Price, 1994, p. 49） found that:one of the main findings from the survey was the importance of the relationship between establishment size and em

8、ployment practices there was a strong correlation between size and the extent to which establishments had introduced personnel policies, procedures or other arrangements which met the requirements of employment law. The significance of this relationship cannot be underestimated and must be borne in

9、mind when interpreting the results on recruitment and training in the small firms in the sample.Any meaningful analysis of recruitment and training cannot be undertaken without some understanding of the labour market within which small tourism and hospitality firms operate. Much effort has been expe

10、nded developing theoretical models of the labour market. As far as the tourism and hospitality industries are concerned one of the most useful theories is dual labour market theory. Goldsmith et al. （1997） summarize this succinctly. Dual labour market theory proposes that the total labour market can

11、 be segmented. One section is the primary labour market, where jobs tend to be supplied by large, highly profitable firms with a high capital to labour ratio and high productivity. Here, production is usually large scale with high investment in technology. Employment in these firms is normally stabl

12、e with relatively high skill and wage levels. In this context, there are normally opportunities for training. The secondary labour market is normally characterised by small firms with low capital to labour ratio, low productivity and small scale production. In these firms, wage and skill levels tend

13、 to be low, employment is unstable and training opportunities are usually limited. Small tourism and hospitality firms normally tend to operate within the secondary labour market.There are obvious relationships between recruitment and training. One relationship is where training can provide solution

14、s to problems in the labour market. Campbell and Baldwin （1993） suggest that in many industrialised countries there is a concern that skills shortages and mismatches are appearing in the labour market and that policy makers are aware that recruitment difficulties and skill shortages may reduce the c

15、ompetitiveness of small and large firms. Bradley and Taylor （1996） suggest that there is a growing awareness that education and training systems can influence the skill and occupational mix of a locality and local economic wellbeing. Another type of relationship is one where the level of recruitment

16、 affects the level of training. In tourism and hospitality, with their reliance on the secondary labour market and high rates of labour turnover, there is a strong tendency to have high levels of recruitment and low levels of training. The arguments being that either it is not worth investing in tra

17、ining or there simply is not time.RecruitmentResearch on tourism and hospitality firms in general （i.e. not specifically small firms） refers to informal and unsystematic recruitment methods （Lucas and Boella, 1996）. Others, who have carried out research into recruitment in small firms in general hav

18、e found a reliance on informal methods （see, for example, Curran et al., 1993）. Millward et al. （1992） found that, whereas larger enterprises relied greatly on formal methods and bureaucratic procedures by specialist personnel departments, the small business owner/manager is likely to handle recruit

19、ing and personnel matters without delegating and is unlikely to have any relevant skills.TrainingTourism and hospitality have one of the highest levels of skill shortages （HCTC, 1995; HEFCE, 1998）. If, as Bradley and Taylor （1996） suggest, training can influence the skill of a locality, then it is i

20、nteresting to see how seriously small tourism and hospitality firms take training.According to Curran et al. （1996） small businesses experience problems in providing training for both owner-managers and workers. It has also been discovered that the hospitality industry displays one of the lowest lev

21、els of training activity in the UK economy （HCTC, 1995）. These points should be borne in mind when the results of this survey are interpreted.Two of the indicators of a systematic approach to training are the existence of a training plan/policy and a specific budget for training.According to the Hos

22、pitality Training Foundation （HtF, 1996） 63 per cent of employers in all industries had a training plan. In catering and hospitality 64 per cent had a training plan. The most recent research on training and small firms found that only 28 per cent of such firms had a training plan.It is appropriate t

23、o discuss training budgets alongside training plans. It is also useful to compare the survey findings with all industries and with the hospitality industry （no figures are available for tourism）. In all industries 55 per cent of employers had training budgets; in hospitality this figure was 43 per c

24、ent according to IFF research （HtF, 1996）. However, research carried out by the HtF found that only 19 per cent of hospitality firms had a training budget.In the UK, the provision of training to SMEs has become a central issue of economic policy （Miller and Davenport, 1987）. Storey （1994） has descri

25、bed this as a major indirect small firms policy initiative. Over the last decade, the provision of training and support to SMEs has increased considerably involving national and local Government, the private sector, and further and higher education institutes （Westhead, 1996. In the survey on small

26、tourism and hospitality firms, the issue of training provision was examined.There is little point in investing in training without attempting to measure its effectiveness. Measuring the effectiveness of training is extremely difficult in any size of firm. The small firms literature suggests that own

27、er-managers of small firms assess the value of workforce training in an informal way and tend to use various kinds of subjective assessments. The firms in the survey were questioned on if and how they measured the effectiveness of training.Research methodResearchers at The Centre for the Study of Sm

28、all Tourism and Hospitality Firms based at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, were keen to examine business practices in small firms both by breadth and depth. As such, it was decided to administer a questionnaire to 4,331 small firms. In total, 1,103 were returned completed, giving a response rate

29、of 26 percent. The project focused on four regions: Cumbria; Heart of England; West Country; and Yorkshire. Eight sectors were chosen to provide a broadly based cross-section of these industries. These sectors were public house/bar; travel agent; hotel; visitor attraction; B&B/guesthouse; fast food/takeaway; restaurant or caf; self-catering. The vast majority of firms in the sample were independently-owned single outlet businesses （80 per cent）. The definition of a small firm adopted for the survey is fewer than 50 employees and is a conflation of the European Commissions defini