Human resource management practices in selected hotels in the Accra metropolis

Abstract

This study aimed at finding out if human resource management (HRM) practices are employed stringently in the hospitality industry particularly the hotel industry to attract, equip and maintain the right people to deliver quality service. It had an objective of finding out the perception of management of hospitality facilities on HRM practices such as recruitment, selection, training and motivation to get the right people to offer quality service and to reduce labour turnover. The study adopted a non-experimental research design. Specifically, the study was descriptive in nature. The purposive sampling procedures were employed to select the five (5) human resource managers (HRM) of the selected top star hotels. The rest of the population were selected from the guests of the respective hotel using the same technique and amounted to sixty (60) making a total sample size of sixty five (65). Questionnaires and in depth interviews were used to solicit information from these respondents. The study found out that the majority of human resources in the top rated hotels had at least secondary education and quite a substantial number (36.5%) had professional qualification. The staff members had adequate knowledge on human resource management practices and management to a large extent employed HRM practices to recruit, select, equip and maintain the right people for the provision of quality service. Such findings have significant implications for the industry in view of the national pursuit of promoting the tourism industry in Ghana. It is recommended that management of locally owned hotels employ a comprehensive human resource policy to improve on quality of services offered.