Managing to Compete? Employment, Work and Labour Relations in the Hospitality Industry in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis outlines the nature of human resource management in the Accommodation, Cafes, and Restaurants industrial sector in New Zealand in the late 1990s. Using data collected through postal surveys, interviews and analysis of employment contracts, the thesis utilises Gospel's (1992) analytical framework (which suggests that labour, employment and work are the key areas in which managers must make human resource decisions) to describe prevailing patterns of management occurring in the industry. It suggests that stereotypical conceptions about the nature and structure of employment within the industry do not reflect current day reality, and that deregulation of licensing laws, a rapid rate of growth and the nature of customer demand within the industry have had a significant impact on human resource related decisions. The thesis also attempts to uncover the rationales provided by managers for their employment related decisions. In doing so it finds that while some management decisions are clearly affected by market constraints, others appear on the face of things to be inconsistent with management's express view of their competitive strategy. This is explained with reference to Anthony Gidden's stratification theory of action to support the notion that managerial decision making is not a completely rational and market-related process, but that other factors, including ideology and manager's own conceptions of themselves as social actors, are influential in the decisions that are made.