Without revisiting old arguments about the uniqueness of hospitality management
(Nailon, 1982) there is general agreement amongst management theorists that industry
context (whatever the industry) has an impact on the nature of management work
(Hales, 1986, Stewart, 1989). Nebel and Ghei (1993; also Ghei and Nebel, 1994) and
Hales and Tamangani (1996) draw similar conclusions in relation to hotel (unit)
managers. Firstly, most of the day-to-day operational problems in hotels are service
centred and therefore a major focus of the role of any hotel manager must be on the
management of service quality. Hales and Tamangani argue that where retail unit
managers place an emphasis on reactive customer administration, hotel managers
place it on proactive service quality management. Secondly, most of the day-to-day
business problems in hotels have extremely short time leads. Whilst managers should
also concern themselves with the medium and long term needs (notably the development
of staff) “the pressing needs of the immediate and recurrent often drive out
longer-term considerations” (Hales and Tamangani, 1996).