Productivity

An important element in any performance-oriented approach to HRM, productivity is reviewed from a number of angles in this chapter. The broader linkages to HRM concepts of performance management, training and development are examined, with specific hospitality industry issues like impact of automation and self-service technology discussed. The importance of productivity norms and benchmarking is emphasised, alongside critical hospitality factors such as labour costs. Different approaches to measuring productivity are reviewed, along with pointers to the software programmes that are now available to assist more accurate assessment and comparison. Productivity within hospitality has been found to be a weak area of management expertise and recent research is analysed in order to understand better just why productivity is regarded as so difficult within the sector.