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What is Happening to Flexible Workers in the Supply Chain Partnerships Between Hotel Housekeeping Departments and Their Partner Employment Agencies? Some Qualitive Insights.

Soltani, Ebrahim, Wilkinson, Adrian (2010) What is Happening to Flexible Workers in the Supply Chain Partnerships Between Hotel Housekeeping Departments and Their Partner Employment Agencies? Some Qualitive Insights. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29 (1). pp. 108-119. ISSN 0278-4319. (doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.06.006) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:25532)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.06.006

Abstract

The primary aims of this paper are two-fold: first, to consider the potential which exists for hotel management to establish a firm relationship with employment agencies to contribute to the deployment of right numbers and skills at the right place; and second, to assess whether both the hotels and employment agencies treat the flexible workers as a resource, or as a cost. The findings, based on 84 qualitative interviews, indicate that: there is a solid economic rationale that is likely to bind the incidence of flexible working practices to the wider recruitment strategies of the hotels; that the flexible firm models do not provide a full account of supply chain relationship between hotels and their partner agencies; and that the current management approach to labour flexibility conforms to a ‘hard’ version of HRM in that labour is treated as a variable cost. The findings suggest that flexible workers are highly likely disadvantaged in terms of access to training, career development, remuneration and other work-related practices than core employees. Overall, the data reveals that both dimensions of cost and, to a lesser extent, quality of the workforce provided by the employment agencies are central to the interests of the hotel management, thereby forming the backdrop to their decisions on whether to maintain these supply chain relationship with their partner agencies. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.06.006
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Kent Business School - Division > Kent Business School (do not use)
Depositing User: J. Ziya
Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2010 15:30 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:03 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/25532 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Soltani, Ebrahim.

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