How to Manage Diffrent Groups In Leisure Industries Essay

How to Manage Diffrent Groups In Leisure Industries - Essay Example Many management authors that effective management of people is the most important trait of a successful manager have underlined it. In leisure industry we find people who are the obvious elements like- mangers, employees and clients. Then there is another set of people who are indirectly related like the performers, spectators, technicians etc. There are various theories on who is more important and who is not. But regardless of the hierchy, everyone's coming together is most important. For example if a concert is to be organized, it would involve some managerial person to select the venue, a marketing person to promote the concert, a public relation officer to co-ordinate various agencies involved, a performer to deliver, some technicians to take care of the technical side, security personnel to manage the crowd etc. The people involved to run the Leisure industry can be at different levels and different status. All of them need to be handled differently. They are much different from the material resources. A material source actually becomes a resource only when a human resource makes it productive. For example, a microphone turns into a resource only when a singer uses it to perform. Therefore the management of human resources is very important and needs to be tackled at a different level. This is a complex task because unlike material resources, one can never be sure of the returns from the investment made on the Human Resource. Storey 1995, has defined Human Resource management as the distinctive approach to the employment management. He says the motive of correct employment management is to get a competitive advantage. For this it is important to have a strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce. It may require an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. But the limiting factor of this theory is that it is focused on productivity and profit. For a long-term benefit, both for the organization and the employees, it is better to view the employees or the work force as capital and not as cost. When they are considered as cost, the focus is to get the maximum profit from their inputs. But when they are treated as capital then one has to invest more in them to increase their productivity. In a service-oriented industry like the leisure industry, this becomes even more significant as the product - pleasure- is intangible. The involvement of the customer is a must. Most importantly, the production and consumption of the product happens simultaneously. Like in a concert, the production, that is rendering of music, and consumption i.e. listening and enjoying the music, take place at the same time. Categories of Human Resources The leisure industry comprises of volunteers and paid workers. These two different type of people need to be handled in different manners. Then there is a segment in the paid workers that is referred to as professionals. For example- in a concert there could be some celebrity management experts to co-ordinate with the star performers. There could be marketing experts to help design the promotion of the event. Along with the professionals, there are some volunteers also. Volunteers Some people involved in the Leisure industry could be Volunteers. According to Stephen, 1991, these people