People with disabilities: A new model of productive labor

The nation’s largest minority is people with disabilities, comprising more than 50 million individuals (U.S. Census Bureau 2008), who contribute to the diversity that nurtures new ideas and supports businesses become more competitive in a diverse marketplace. Businesses can improve their competitive edge if they take steps to integrate underrepresented groups, such as people with disabilities, into their workforce [Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) 2005]. This untapped pool offers a source of skilled and dedicated employees to counter the effects of the aging and shrinking workforce, especially in the hospitality and tourism industry, which is labor intensive and faces high employee turnover rates (Ball et al. 2005; ODEP 2005). The goal of the study is to examine the benefits and challenges when employing people with disabilities and the best practices in proactively employing and managing workers with disabilities. Walgreens Co was selected as a purposive sample based on its initiative of proactively hiring people with disabilities and aiming to employ 20 percent of employees with disabilities in their distribution centers and 10 percent in their stores. Walgreens Co is the nation’s biggest drugstore chain, is included in the top 500 Fortune companies and is an active member of the US business leadership network that is a national disability organization that supports best practices in the employment and advancement of people with disabilities. The study aims to use Walgreens initiative as a benchmark for the hospitality industry and inform hospitality employers of the best practices of employing and managing this untapped group of workforce. Finally, since baby boomers have already started retiring resulting in an aging and shrinking workforce, the study aims to provide human resources professionals with solutions in improving and expanding their candidates’ pools and ensuring a better workforce. (CNNMoney, 2011; U.S. Business Leadership Network, 2011

Training professionals\u27 impressions and opinions about their role in hospitality

Billions of dollars are spent yearly on employee training. Thus, extensive research has been done on why training is important to the advancement of organizations. However, little research has been done on the actual providers and facilitators of the training and development. This research is designed to identify the feelings, insights, emotions, expectations, and beliefs of the training professionals about their role in hospitality. A qualitative research, Zaltman\u27s Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was performed with ten training professionals from two hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada. Study results indicated (1) the importance of their role within the organization, (2) the high diversity of their responsibilities, qualities, and challenges and (3) the rapid change of the training techniques and training material. Implications for future research are discussed

Valentini Kalargyrou, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, PAUL travels to Israel

Prof. Kalargyrou visited Israel to collect data from Nalaga’at (in Hebrew, “please touch”) Center in Tel Aviv for the Social Entrepreneurship and disability inclusion in Hospitality and Tourism research project

Leadership Skills and Challenges in Hospitality Management Education

Leaders in hospitality management education face diverse challenges in today\u27s competitive and changing environment. Evolving demands from superiors, financial challenges, and faculty and students increasing demands, create a turbulent environment in which administrators must thrive. One of the keys in being effective leaders is the application of the necessary leadership skills

Identifying Training Challenges in Hospitality Industry: An Exploratory Approach

The current study investigated the effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on organizational citizenship behavior and turnover intentions. The study also examined the effect of organizational citizenship behavior on turnover intentions. Frontline employees working in five-star hotels in North Cyprus were selected as a sample. The result of multiple regression analyses revealed that job satisfaction is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior and negatively related to turnover intentions. Affective organizational commitment was found to be positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. However, the study found no significant relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Furthermore, organizational citizenship behavior was negatively associated with turnover intentions. The study provides discussion and avenues for future research

Gaining a Competitive Advantage with Disability Inclusion Initiatives

This study examines disability inclusion initiatives as a strategy to gaining a competitive advantage, especially in industries with high turnover such as hospitality and retail. The author of this study used qualitative methods and collected data from two leaders in disability inclusion: Walgreens Co. and Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino. Disability inclusion has proven valuable to the aforementioned companies, in which persons with disabilities have exhibited strong loyalty, lower turnover, dependability and improved productivity, and workplace physical and psychological safety. Creating a disability-friendly culture that is favorable and supportive to employees with disabilities is vital in overcoming biases and stereotypes

Administrative Challenges in Hospitality Management Education

Leaders in hospitality management education face diverse challenges in today\u27s competitive and changing environment. One of the keys to success is the understanding of the administrative challenges that will define the necessary skills for effective leadership. This study applied qualitative and quantitative methods and examined the opinions of 50 faculty members and administrators. The data were analyzed in two levels; the examination of aggregate data and the comparison of opinions between the two groups. Key challenges include dealing with faculty, budgetary and fiscal challenges, administrative management, curriculum and program development, increasing the diversity of faculty and students, and technological challenges. This study also notes the importance of the relationship between leadership skills and challenges, and the dynamics between the two concepts, while suggesting the importance for hospitality institutions to invest more fully in formally training their academic leadership

The Business Case of Employing People with Disabilities

As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, the retirement wave swells creating workforce shortage. Moreover, employee loyalty is declining; one recent study shows that 76 percent of full-time workers are willing to leave their current job for opportunistic reasons. The combined effects of these recent trends present a challenge for the labor intensive hospitality industry that requires both experienced and loyal workforce. Hence, employers should look for alternative sources of loyal and dedicated expertis

Employers’ Perspectives about Employing People with Disabilities A Comparative Study across Industries

A comparison of managerial hiring intentions and attitudes toward people with disabilities between service businesses and goods-producing industries found that service firms are more likely to recruit people with disabilities. Based on a comparison of 263 leisure and hospitality companies with 3,126 firms in other industries, service-producing industries are more likely to actively recruit workers with disabilities when compared with goods-producing companies. Customer attitudes toward people with disabilities seem to be a bigger concern among leisure and hospitality companies compared with other service-producing industries. With respect to coworker attitudes, companies in the manufacturing and transportation/warehousing industries are the most likely to report coworker attitudes as a challenge when hiring people with disabilities. Finally, leisure and hospitality companies are more likely to report that the cost of accommodations is an issue when hiring people with disabilities. At the same time, leisure and hospitality businesses are less likely than goods-producing industries to report that the nature of the work is such that it cannot be effectively performed by people with disabilities