Understanding Talent Management in the hotel sector: employees’ narratives of personal career development.

Abstract

This research provides a unique insight into the experiences of employees in the hotel sector, with particular reference to personal career development, which, to date, has had limited consideration within the Talent Management (TM) and career literature. In recent years, there has been a shift in the academic literature from a focus on the organisational practices of TM to the experiences of individual employees, taking into consideration their views and opinions on and their aspirations for their personal career development. There remains much to be understood about the experiences of individual employees of TM practices in the hotel sector, and this study aims to fill a gap in knowledge. In order to meet the aim of this research, a qualitative approach was adopted, and narrative inquiry was selected as the optimum route to obtaining detailed and rich accounts of personal career development. 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with employees in a small hotel chain. The participants in this study were 15 hotel staff members (8 employees and 7 managers) of different ages, nationality, gender, departments and experience to maximize variation. Three main themes were identified: Life as a hotel employee, Understanding TM practices in hotels and Personal career development in hotels. Using the narrative approach allowed for the unfolding of participants‘ stories including their entry into the hospitality industry to the pursuit of their dream position in the field. This study makes an important contribution to understanding the employee perspective of TM and career development. One of the outcomes of this study is the development of a conceptual framework, which provides a useful model that offers insights into the experiences of employees and managers within the hotel sector and the role of TM practices in personal career development. It identifies empirically found concepts and their interrelationships and reveals the possibility to integrate TM and career development. This study marks the first piece of research to illuminate the experiences of individual employees within the hotel sector and the role of TM practices in personal career development. Implications for practice and future research directions are outlined in order to identify the scope of work yet to be explored in this area.