Human Resource Systems in Kenya A Case Study of Hotel Human Resources Performance

Abstract

A study of 160 managers and employees in four hotels in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, found that functionally flexible human resource systems in conjunction with differentiation strategies are associated with high organizational performance, whereas numerically flexible human resource systems and cost-reduction strategies are linked with low organizational performance. Functionally flexible human resources systems emphasize mutual obligations between management and workers. By contrast, numerically flexible human resources systems are based on a straight work-for-hire relationship, in which employment is subject to unilateral termination at any time by employee or employer. The research also found that the independent hotels pursued numerically flexible human resource systems in conjunction with cost-reduction strategies, whereas the chain hotels applied functionally flexible human resource systems and differentiation–focus strategies. Keywords: human resource systems; Kenya; Nairobi hotels; Mombasa hotels