Exploring labour relations competencies for general managers in a hospitality organisation in the Gauteng Province

Abstract

This research project set out to determine what labour relations tasks are performed by the general managers of a hospitality organisation comprising of various hotels across multiple provinces, what competencies are needed to be able to perform these tasks effectively and how these competencies compare to those identified in the research conducted by Botha et al. in 2018. The abovementioned were achieved by asking the research participants four questions. Firstly, what type of labour relations tasks did the participants in this particular organisation perform as part of their jobs as general managers? Secondly, what labour relations competencies did they think are needed to perform these tasks effectively? Thirdly, could they identify any gaps between their own labour relations competencies and those they identified as necessary? Lastly, what suggestions could they make with regards to addressing any possible gaps? The research participants included hotel general managers from the Gauteng province and the number of participants were determined by data saturation. The study revealed that it is conceivable to state that the labour relations competencies needed by specialists in the South African public sector are comparable and closely related to those that hotel general managers might need to conduct various labour relations tasks in their capacities as general managers.