Abstract
Tourism will be the world's largest industry by the Year 2000. The hospitality industry is a major dependent on tourism business. Effectiveness and efficiency will be the critical success factors to harness growth and survival. In tourism, general managers have been studied least and, thus, little is known about the behaviour and individual characteristics that influence organisational effectiveness. Management effectiveness is the key determinant if business success and profitability is to be achieved. The impetus for the title and theme of this thesis stems from my work in management and organisational development in the tourism and hospitality industry in Ireland. This empirical research study was designed to identify effective organisations in the hotel industry and to determine the nature of management and the competences of the general managers in their hotels. The research design and approach included three distinct phases to the study, namely: Phase One: To develop and apply a framework of performance indicators to the hotel industry in Ireland. Phase Two: To determine the nature of management practice within effective hotels in Ireland. Phase Three: To formulate a competence profile of general managers to reflect the skills, abilities, knowledge and personal strengths used in the execution of critical tasks and activities. The outcomes of the study include a model for the analysis of organisational performance, a framework of the nature of management activity and practices in effective hotels and a competence profile of the general managers in those hotels. The research methodology included the critical incident technique, a survey, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. A total of one hundred and forty-four critical incidents were gathered from the forty eight general managers of effective hotels. They utilised sixty-seven dominant competences in the execution of these incidents. The study revealed a great range and diversity of management activity and practices in the organisations of the respondents and the findings conclude that management is dominated by operational activities and issues. The thesis concluded with a series of recommendations for further research studies in organisations, and management in the tourism and hospitality industries.