ABSTRACT
It might seem strange in the light of Chapter 3 that personnel management should still be considered important, yet it is. No matter how weak or strong the internal labour market, there is always a basic administrative function to be undertaken; whether this is done by someone called a Personnel Manager or by someone else, it still has to be done. Personnel is often seen as bureaucracy which is a little unfair. Such sentiments are really a substitute rationale for rejecting a strong internal labour market which is, in itself, perfectly legitimate. The real problem for personnel in the hotel and catering industry is that the normal unit size is far too small to carry a Personnel Manager, but someone still has to maintain some kind of personnel function. Often this function is delegated to an Assistant Manager who is responsible for other areas as well, or it is split between more than one person. In the case of large companies, the response of Head Office Personnel is to try to lay down guidelines in order to achieve a minimum standard of administration. This structural difficulty could easily be used as an excuse for poor administration, but it is really a very strong argument for actually doing it efficiently.
