Is project management a required competency for the hotel industry

The hotel industry in Ireland has suffered major turmoil over the last 5 years, and is constantly evolving and reshaping in order to survive (Bacon 2009). The industry comprises of 903 hotels with a total of 60,138 rooms. This is a 35% increase from 2005. That year saw €3.97 Billion in tourism revenue, with this increasing to €4.4 billion in 2007 and dropping to €3.4 billion in 2011 (Ireland 2012). The work of hotel managers involves many projects, from new menu concepts to large refurbishment programs; from small dinner parties to large corporate events. Taking this into account, this research paper looks at whether project management should be included as a competency for graduates of hotel management courses. This paper aims to explore the current situation with regard to the competencies being taught in the educational institutions, by carrying out interviews with general managers of hotels, to determine if the institutions are meeting the requirements they have of graduates. There is much literature available in relation to the competencies and what is required (Tas 1988; Yang & Chen 2009; Chung-Herrera 2003; Nolan et al. 2010; Siu 1998) and more in relation to the perceived gaps in the desired and delivered competences (Cheung et al. 2010; Huang & Lin 2010; Brophy & Kiely 2002; Hawkins et al. 2012; Jauhari 2006) and these areas were critically reviewed. In addition, information was examined in relation to project management (Association for Project Management 2006; Project Management Institute 2008), and the potential benefits that it has in event organisation (O’Toole & Mikolaitis 2002; Bowden et al. 2010; Allen 2009; Wei 2012; Williams 2012), with a particular focus on the hotel industry. Project management, “is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently. It’s a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to business goals — and thus, better compete in their markets (PMI 2013). There is no direct connection made in the literature between project management and the hotel industry, so the author will use interviews with general managers in the hotel industry to bridge the gap in the research, to determine if there is necessity to explore this further. The author sets out to investigate whether project management skills are an important positive attribute in the hotel industry, and to determine if there are benefits to including it as a specific module in hotel management courses. The research aims to determine if project management plays a significant role in the hotel industry and if this is the case, whether it should be part of the teaching in this field?