The Valuation of Skill and the Configuration of HRM

Abstract

This paper looks at the way skills and knowledge are valued by management in tourism and hospitality firms and at how that valuation is reflected in the configuration of human resources management (HRM) and the structure of labour markets. Based on a resource view of the firm and using the concepts of human resource architecture, it is argued that tourism and hospitality are not just examples of the internal spot-market mode in which acquisition dominates employment strategy, but rather constitute a special case in which the nature of labour productivity intervenes. The authors argue that labour is, in the main, separated from quantitative concepts of productivity and adds value only in qualitative terms. This sets up a dichotomy for human resource strategy between economic imperatives and the desire for quality. The resolution of that dichotomy, it is argued, is aggravated by the way individuals value their human capital, which has the effect of segmenting a general unskilled labour market and creating rigid occupational identities. This is the background against which modern ideas of HRM, such as employment flexibility, have to contend.Keywords: human resource management; skill evaluation; productivity; employment flexibilityThe purpose here is to argue, in conceptual terms, a case that the value placed on human capital in the tourism and hospitality industry creates and maintains a particular configuration of human resource management (HRM) within which there is a 'tension' between the need for labour productivity and the need for quality. The term configuration here refers to a rational set of policies, practices, strategic objectives and priorities that are concerned with the maintenance of a workforce. The paper creates a simple model that draws a line from the nature of a job through to the configuration of HRM. The overriding driver of the model is management's particular orientation towards skill evaluation. This evaluation, it will be argued, focuses on human capital and has three weighted components; the scarcity value of skill in the labour market, the measurability of that skill in terms of productivity and the contribution of the skill to competitive advantage. These concerns form an orientation or general attitude

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