LO1 Human resources management applies the concept of hiring and developing employees so they ultimately contribute more value to an organization or business. As it applies to tourism, people hired by the tourism industry are often instructed to work low paying, low skill jobs that do not encourage better workers, nor improvement within the workplace. This can hurt the industry because it is important to understand that tourism as a whole needs its workers to be above the expected standard in order to keep customers interested, satisfied, and desire to come back to the region they offer their services. In chapter 1 of Human Resource Management for the Hospitality and Tourism Industries, Nickson explains the need for HRM within the Tourism industry: "...recruiting, developing and maintaining a committed, competent, well managed and well-motivated workforce... focused on offering a high-quality 'product' to the increasingly demanding and discerning customer...allows for higher return rates and higher customer satisfaction" (Nickson, 2012, pp. 1)

The issue: most who think of the tourism industry think of it as an unrewarding, unappealing source of employment with high turnaround, offering little job stability and decent pay. Nickson mentions how most of the poorly run tourism businesses have few high paying, high skill jobs, and many low paying, low skill jobs, leaving no room for growth or improvement within the company. He also states certain policy responses should allow for more medium income, medium skill jobs, and chances for promotion from within. As some tourism HRM models show, "some geographical and sub-sector areas, tourism and hospitality provides an attractive, high-status working environment with competitive pay and conditions, which is in high demand in the labour force and benefits from low staff turnover & #8230; (Nickson, 2012, pp. 16)

Places that utilize good HRM models have higher level skilled workers as well as higher rates of professionalism from workers, a key wish for many tourists who visit. The importance in running a good HRM model is good recruitment techniques, retaining staff through long-term job offers, steady scheduling, and promotion from within, as well as decent pay. In sum, there are various factors that may account for poor personnel practice in the tourism industry. The solution to improving this sector is not through upgrading every facet of the business, but allowing for improvement and growth opportunities for employees and providing job stability. It is important to realize that not all tourism companies are the same and while a lot offer poor HRM models, there are still some that offer successful models that keep employees and customers satisfied. As Nickson "Ultimately though we have to be cautious to not over generalize the nature of HRM in tourism and hospitality and there is a need to examine differing practices and try to understand why these differences might exist. (Nickson, 2012, pp. 25)

b.)

To begin, the main purpose human resources management serves is to strike and maintain a balance between meeting the needs of employees along with what works best for the market-driven needs of an organization. If HRM is done well, the end result is usually employee and customer satisfaction with growth and prosperity for both the organization and the individual employees. However, the economy, along with other factos may influence an organization's failure or success regardless of effective or ineffective HRM. Typically though, if an organization's humans resources has appropriate and effective management, employees will aid their employers in reaching the goals of the organization.

The two primary functions of human resource management is to manage employees and oversee department functions. Mayhew states in an online article: "For this reason, a human resources manager must be well-versed in each of the human resources disciplines -- compensation and benefits, training and development, employee relations, and recruitment and selection. Core competencies HR managers have are solid communication skills and decision-making capabilities based on analytical skills and critical thought processes." (Mayhew, 2013) The overall responsibilities of HRMS are to have strategic and functional responsibilities for all of the HR disciplines. This includes compensation and benefits which, in regards to the tourism sector, provides direction and guidance to specialists in compensation and benefits. An example would be managing healthcare for employees and adherence to confidentiality provisions for employee medical files.

HRMs are also responsible for training and development. Mayhew explains: "Employee training and development includes new hire orientation, leadership training and professional development seminars and workshops." (Mayhew, 2013) Human resource managers evaluate employees and determine whether additional or partial training is necessary and the type of training necessary to improve productivity and performance. Travel and tourism organizations often do not have this step but need to in order to maintain a well trained and professional staff. If HRM does not examine employee performance records to identify areas of improvement, solutions such as seminars or workshops on leadership techniques cannot be utilized.

HRM is also responsible for employee relations. HRM...

Travel and tourism organization often lack this due to their high turnaround of employees. Employees do not stay on long enough to allow for a relationship between employee and employer to develop. "An effective employee relations strategy contains specific steps for ensuring the overall well-being of employees." (Mayhew, 2013) Lastly, HRM is responsible for recruitment and selection. Human resource managers form strategic solutions to assist in meeting the needs and demands of the workforce as well as observe and identify labor force trends. An HR manager is mainly responsible for decisions related to corporate branding in connection with recruiting and retaining talented employees. "Corporate branding as it relates to recruitment and retention means promoting the company as an employer of choice." (Mayhew, 2013) Again, travel and tourism organizations do not use their HRMs effectively in this regard and often do not attract or retain competent, highly skilled workers.
C.) Introduction

I. Draft plan of action for sustainable tourism development in the Scandinavian region

A. Requirements for sustainable tourism development

B. Issues to be addressed

1. Policy-making

2. Planning

3. Managing

4. Private sector participation

C. Proposals for action

1. Human resources development in the tourism sector

2. Economic impact of tourism

3. Environmental management of tourism

4. Infrastructure development and investment for the tourism sector

5. Facilitation of travel

6. Regional and subregional cooperation in tourism development

D. Modalities

1. National modalities

2. Regional modalities

E. Implementation, time-frame and monitoring

F. Strategies for resource mobilization

II. ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMISSION

Outline provided by (ESCAP, 2013)

LO2

a.)

Poor employee relations typically involve poor communication. To develop and form a strong business relationship, effective communication practices should be designed and implemented. Many chances for poor communication can take place in any work environment. As it relates to a travel and tourism organisation, poor employee relations can breed bad consequences.

But not all tourism companies have poor employee relations. Thomas Cook Group plc, a British global travel company, prides itself in having good employee relations with satisfied employees. They do well with employees because of their supportive and communicative management. As mentioned in a previous question, Thomas Cook allows for job promotions and offers decent albeit low wages as well as ability for employees to learn new skills and grow. They also offer concessionary travel.

Lucas provides in her book an example of poor employee relations and the consequences of poor management. "Soft management: corrective vs. lax...The lax model fails to meet good employee relations practice and organisational needs, entailing a failure to set standards or apply rules, and a tendency to adopt an over-indulgent attitude towards rule breakers." (Lucas, 2004, p. 188) The example she provided included an instance of employee heavy drinking and management condoning such unprofessional behavior. This allowance of behavior not only affects health and safety, but also production and service standards. It could even lead to accidents, leading to possible death. Ultimately, it is important to establish trust, communication, and incentives in order to create good employee relations within a company.

b.) Increasingly, companies must be managed globally, placing new challenged to HRM. This includes an increased number of employees working abroad. The three recent global challenges faced by HR are:

Deployment: Knowing where to send the right employees to handle certain tasks where needed without concern for geographical location.

Knowledge and innovation dissemination: Communicating and updating employees on recent technological breakthroughs, innovations, or practices regardless of where they originate.

Identifying and developing talent on a global basis: Ability to identify and discern which employees or future employees posses the capabilities to function effectively in a global organization and improving these abilities.

Dealing with these difficulties, employers and specifically HRM must design and implement new HR policies and procedures specifically for handling global assignments. In Managing Human Resources in an International Business, the writers state from a practical point-of-view, one has to address issues such as:

"1. Candidate identification, assessment, and selection. In addition to the required technical and business skills, key traits to consider for global assignments include, for instance: cultural sensitivity, interpersonal skills, and flexibility.

2. Cost projections. The average cost of sending an employee and family on an overseas assignment is reportedly between three and five times the employee's pre-departure salary; as a result,…