Diagnosis of competencies in the meetings industry in Poland, Hungary and Ireland in post-COVID-19 period

Abstract

The freezing of economies due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused damage not only on the sales side but also on the labor market due to the outflow of staff from companies specializing in the organization of meetings. The return of the meetings industry sector to the development path will involve skillful change management, including in the area of competencies and skills. To inventory and assess the competencies of employees in the meetings industry, this study was carried out among specialized enterprises in the meetings industry in Poland, Hungary, and Ireland, on samples of two research groups, i.e. the Director General (CEO) and operational employees based on questionnaires and individual in-depth interviews (IDI). The obtained results allowed to establish the hierarchy of self-assessment of own managerial competencies, assessment of the competencies of the CEO by the employees, areas of increasing team competencies, and areas of staff development in the sector shortly, contributing to the recovery from the pandemic crisis. Raising the competencies and qualifications of employees is perceived as one of the most powerful tools for overcoming the pandemic crisis, obtaining 68% positive indications among CEOs in Poland, 77% indications in Hungary, and 84% in Ireland. In all analyzed countries, the meetings industry is indicated as a strategic product of the tourist market. Among the planned long-term actions aimed at overcoming the pandemic crisis, increasing employee competencies is perceived as an opportunity for the companies operating the meetings industry sector (90% in Poland, and 80% in Hungary and Ireland). AcknowledgmentThis study was done in frames of the project “Vocational competences in MICE sector” co-financed in frames of European Union program Erasmus + as part of the program The Dialog for Transformation, Erasmus+, 2020–2021.

Actual and Expected Competencies in the Meetings Industry Sector during the Post-COVID-19 Era: The Case Studies Poland, Ireland, and Hungary

“…Thus, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is both the formation of new competencies, such as advanced digital competencies and cross-skilling, and the growth in importance of competencies already defined but considered less important to date, such as crisis management, change management, and knowledge management. At the same time, it should be emphasized that all the groups of competencies identified in the survey results are part of the industry's projected trends [12][13][14], which can be broadly divided into three areas:…”

“…Considering the situation created during the pandemic period and the analysis of current trends in the meetings industry, it was hypothesized that the core competencies of the industry's employees fit into these trends. The trends projected by the industry are primarily: the rise of new digital technologies and the associated online restructuring, flexible participation, personalization of offerings, security in the broadest sense, and a focus on the customer experience to meet their unique needs [12][13][14]. At the same time, these trends set the directions for developing employee competencies in companies' HR policies in the post-COVID period.…”

“…In the meetings industry, there are most often four categories of institutions that play an important role in the preparation or organization of events. These are: Professional Convention Organizers (PCOs), Incentive Travel Organizers, Destination Management Companies (DMCs), and Trade Show and Exhibition Organizers [14]. Representatives of the above institutions were surveyed, the results of which are presented in this article.…”

The influence of project manager competencies on the success of construction projects: A case of Indonesia

“…One of the knowledge aspects of project managers is based on education levels such as bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. levels. Thus, the higher the level of knowledge of a project manager, the higher the competencies possessed (Walas et al, 2021).…”

Managerial competencies in the training of specialists in public and corporate management in Ukraine

“…Adanov et al (2018) were engaged in searching for a solution to developing management competencies in future specialists in medicine and education. Walas et al (2021) studied the inventory and assessment of the employees' competencies in the industrial sector in Poland, Hungary, and Ireland. As a result, they established a hierarchy of self-assessment of their managerial competencies, the evaluation of the CEO's competencies by employees, directions for improving team competencies, and directions for personnel development in the sector, helping to overcome the consequences of the pandemic.…”