Quality Management Initiatives in Irish Hotels — Emerging Agendas in a Changing Environment

Abstract

This paper reports a quantitative study on the implementation of quality programmes in the Irish hotel industry. An extensive survey was carried out of all hotels registered with the Irish Tourism board. The study assesses the level to which Irish hotels use formal quality methodologies to manage quality in their organisations. Analysis of the data indicates that adoption of formal methodologies within the sector is limited. While quality management is focused on involvement, communication, and teamwork, the study suggests that the management of quality in contemporary Irish hospitality organisations is lacking in precisely these dimensions. The paper concludes that training and development for quality is fragmented and intermittent at best. Irish hoteliers while recognising the importance of quality have few specific quality mechanisms in place.