Peculiar human resource management practices?

Abstract

This article explores the alleged pecularities of human resource management practices in very small developing states. A number of theoretical and ideo-typical features are culled from a literature review and are subsequently confronted with the empirical reality of human resource practices at Southern Bliss Hotel, a large, four-star tourist complex in Malta, the Mediterranean microstate. It is suggested that there are idiosyncracies to management issues in small size and small scale territories which call for recognition on their own terms. Some implications of these observations for hotel human resource management are explored. A cursory glance at recent WTO statIstics for Europe reveals that the highest contributions by tourism to GNP are enjoyed by Malta and Cyprus, the onl1 two developing small island states in the region. This observation is more than sheer coincidence: contemporary evidence suggests that for many resource-poor developing countries, natural beauty and exotic culture may prove to be the only commercially viable assets in which they have a comparative advantage. This holds true particularly for the world's smallest states and territories. Thanks to sun, sea and sand, countries like Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Fiji, the Maldives and Seychelles have developed a flourishing tourist industry which remains the largest contributor to direct and indirect employment, exceeding in significance any other economically productive activity.z Insularity, smallness and isolation-otherwise a trinity of despair for industrialization-The author is Visiting Lecturer, Labour & Development Studies,