Talent Management in Hospitality Operations: Case Company X

Abstract

The hospitality industry has become a significant contribution to the Finnish economy in the last ten years. Nonetheless, a decrease in labor is reported due to the nature of the industry, even though the industry provides numerous jobs for the people. A new approach in hiring, managing, and retaining talent is discovered to solve the matter.

Talent Management is a modern concept and a holistic approach of human resource management. The goal of this thesis is to perceive the new TM framework and its concept in hospitality operations. The case company is a leading Finnish hotel organization which is adopting the TM framework into their HR policy recently.

This study provides a theoretical review that is a fundamental base for implementing empirical research. The theoretical part includes the primary literature of TM definition, model, and practices in the hospitality industry. The research methods adopted in the practical part are both quantitative and qualitative in which an in-depth face-to-face interview with the company’s HR expert and an online survey were conducted.

The results present a case company’s TM model including five phases: planning, attracting, developing, retaining, and transitioning. The planning, developing, and retaining phases are defined as doing successfully when the rest two phases need some improvements. Furthermore, the assessments towards the company’s performance are also displayed. The research’s analysis and the results will be useful support for the case company in order to acknowledge the miss of their TM model and practices as well as contributes useful information for companies that use the same or similar concept.