Bridging the Generational Gap in the Hospitality Industry: Reverse Mentoring—An Innovative Talent Management Practice for Present and Future Generations of Employees

Laura Cismaru,Ray Iunius

doi:10.3390/su12010263

Abstract

In the present generational context, talent management approaches and practices have evolved from the stage of “war for talent”, defined by competitiveness and elitism, to a more collaborative and inclusive “post-war stage”. Innovative solutions are increasingly important. In this framework, the main aim of the paper is to confirm that reverse mentoring, a talent management practice which appeared as a response to the necessity to bridge the present generational gap, can be considered a valuable approach in hospitality. Two case studies on the successful implementation of reverse mentoring in Swiss hospitality are presented: the Shadow Comex (Accor) and the ExCom-Y (Mövenpick). Results of a focus-group discussion on the topic of identifying the attitudes and opinions of Romanian employees regarding the implementation of reverse mentoring in hotels are further analyzed. Results support the idea that reverse mentoring has developed and offers great potential for innovation. The present study offers interesting and useful ideas to companies in hospitality on how to implement reverse mentoring. Results from the group discussion demonstrate that Romanian employees have high expectations and innovative approaches regarding the implementation of reverse mentoring, similar to the employees from Switzerland, but they lack trust in their employers regarding the real possibility to implement it.

Highlights

The concept of “talent management” was formulated in the late 1990s as a response to the so-called “war for talent”, which was the creation of McKinsey’s consultants who wrote that in a highly competitive world, companies were forced to fight for the best talents to fill business-critical positions and bring huge competitive advantages to a company [1,2]
The case study approach is evaluative, the purpose being to understand if the implementation of reverse mentoring within AccorHotels and Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts was efficient
The literature review included in the present article directs attention to the evolution of talent management approaches and practices generated by the present generational context, strongly defined by the generational gap determined by the disruptive Millennial generation

Summary

Introduction

The concept of “talent management” was formulated in the late 1990s as a response to the so-called “war for talent”, which was the creation of McKinsey’s consultants who wrote that in a highly competitive world, companies were forced to fight for the best talents to fill business-critical positions and bring huge competitive advantages to a company [1,2]. The first references to talent management attached an elitist definition to the word “talent”, which indicated “the best-of-class employees” [2]. In this context, the so-called “war for talent” referred to the companies fighting for the best and the brightest employees for key positions [3]. Socio-economic context matters a lot in correctly understanding and defining talent management [4,5] Factors such as mobility, business transformations, technology progress, sustainability concerns, globalization, or demographics determine important changes in talent “quantity” and “quality” [2,4]. The present paper focuses on a popular demographic factor—the present generational context—analyzing the way it influences talent management definition and practices

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Conclusion