Abstract
People travel frequently, to various locations, and on multiple reasons; this makes the hospitality industry a critical driver of the economy growth for any country. Today, the concept of hospitality management implies a severe concern of sustainability in social, economic, environmental domains of business making. This international hospitality strategy focuses on providing excellent visitor service, achieving financial targets, and reducing negative effects on the local and global environment. Because of the lack of empirical research dedicated to environmental management in hospitality industry, the proposed study aims at investigating environmental management and its impact on the organizational performance of the Pullman Hotel at Sydney Olympic Park.
On the ground of the literature review, the researcher will conduct a case study of Pullman’s sustainability program in compliance with mixed research methodology. Private interviews with hotel management representatives will provide qualitative data on the implemented environmental management, its targets, measurement systems, and expected outcomes. In addition, the researcher intends to examine employee’s perceptions of, and attitudes to the integrated organizational change. Relying on academic publications and earlier empirical research, a survey questionnaire will be designed for the distribution among hotel employees occupied in different departments. Using triangulation, the researcher will describe and evaluate efficiency of the hotel environmental management program in comparison to other known sustainability frameworks.
Abstract are usually written once the dissertation is completed. There is a document explaining how to write an abstract in the Dropbox shared folder.
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background of the study
Contemporary hospitality management includes taking responsibility for the business impacts on the environment, including environmental management. Environmental management can be defined as identification of processes, tools and instruments through which environmental resources may be used in a more balanced way or, in other words, how such resources may be managed (Filho, 1997). The hospitality industry requires integration of sustainability principles and policies through diverse environmental management programs to manage proper distribution and storage of products and services to the customers, i.e., organize service distribution points such as restaurants and room service (Adams, 2006). Such management efforts are needed to maintain quality, to reduce resources’ use and output, to reuse resources, and to monitor the overall resource consumption (Pantelidis, 2014). To contribute to global sustainability, hospitality and hotel industry integrates various environmental programs, such as emission reduction. In line with those requirements, internal management processes facilitating management decisions regarding environmental performance include ISO 14001 (with a focus on environmental management systems) or ISO 14031 (environmental management performance) (polymtl.ca, 2015).
Nowadays, businesses are increasingly being expected to operate with environmental management awareness, especially the hospitality industry dealing directly with environmental resources (Kasim, 2014). To comply with this requirement, environmental management systems (EMSs) are implemented to gain knowledge, characterize by the identification of process, tools and instrument for balanced use and management of resources (Filho, 1997). The EMS should be taken in consideration in hospitality industry because “governments regulation on product end-of-life and production process has emphasized the need to address environmental concerns during the product design process” (Dowie, 1994; Sweatman and Simon, 1996, cited in, Santos-Reyes & Lawlor-Wright).
The Pullman Hotel of Sydney Olympic Park, which is under the Accor Hotel Group, has to comply with the corporate sustainable development program, known as Planet 21. Based on the Planet 21 program, the group is willing to commit to work together for the well-being of the world. This program contains seven pillars, one of which specifies carbon footprint, and three others contain commitments to reducing the energy use, CO2 emissions and increase of renewable energy use (accorhotels-group.com).
1.2. Statement of the problem
Environmental management is among many factors that encourage international tourists in their selection of hotels. According to Tripadvisor (cited in Accorhotel-group, n.d.), “tourism industry players, whether they are institutional or international groups, are keen to act responsibly and ensure the longevity of their activities. However, they are not alone. The tourists themselves are also now aware of the need to conserve the planet so that future generations can in turn discover its wonders. A survey conducted by Trip Advisor in 2012 found that over 70% of the tourists surveyed said they plan to make more eco-friendly choices in the future.”
1.3. Purpose and significance of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of environmental management on the performance of the Pullman Hotel at Sydney Olympic Park. The Pullman Hotel is a representative of the international Pullman network keeping to the international standards of hospitality and sustainability management and thus, is a good example of a hotel industry building its business strategy in line with sustainability concerns. Money required for the implementation of environmental management will return to business makers in the reduced energy consumption and its cost. Through investigating the Pullman’s sustainable program that follows the sustainable strategy of the international Pullman Hotel chain, the researcher expects to build a framework for other hotel businesses in Australia.
The existing body of scholarly literature concerning sustainable hospitality management lacks case studies focused on Australia and its hospitality facilities. In addition, the governmental approach to attaining international standards of sustainable hospitality and recreation industries addresses the hotel industry to the minimum extent. Hence, this research purpose is to examine environmental management in a particular hospitality facility – The Pullman Hotel. The researcher intends to investigate how Australian culture and approach to business making perceives environmental management principles established by the global community. Finally, this study will increase the researcher’s self-knowledge due to the research that will be done during the period of writing this paper. Additionally, the population will receive benefit as well since this study can bring knowledge about environmental management principles and some ecological awareness.
1.4. Theoretical framework, aim, and objectives
This paper will focus on corporate sustainability, environmental management and the ISO 14001 as literature review of this study. The researcher believes those theories will be able to support the research in order to achieve the aim and objectives of this coursework.
Therefore, the research objectives are defined as:
1.5. Delimitations
The Pullman Hotel at Sydney Olympic Park is a representative of the international Pullman network keeping to the international standards of hospitality and sustainability management and thus, is a good example of a hotel industry building its business strategy in line with sustainability concerns. Hence, this research is focused on environmental management and its components: design of environment-friendly facilities, energy management, water management, and waste management. The focus of interest in this particular section is that of energy and water management, since these resources are scarce in Australia, and an efficient and successful implementation of EMS may be evaluated with the help of assessing these dimensions of its functioning. Through investigation of Pullman’s sustainable program that follows the sustainable strategy of the international Pullman Hotel chain, the researcher expects to build a framework for other hotel businesses in Australia.
1.6 Organization of the study
This paper contains 5 chapters. Chapter 1 explains the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose and significance of the study, theoretical framework, and delimitations of the study.
Chapter 2 describes the literature reviews, such as, corporate sustainability; environmental management; and ISO 14001.
Chapter 3 evokes the methodology applied for this research paper, including research philosophy, research approach, research strategy, research methods, time horizon, technique and procedures.
Chapter 4 presents and analyzes the data collected including text of the interviews the result of the survey.
Chapter 5 will summarize the entire paper by explaining how the aim is fulfilled and the objectives are achieved, making recommendations, and identifying implications for future research.
Chapter 2: Review of the literature
2.1 Introduction
This chapter presents an in-depth literature review to define the key content and methodological sources required for analyzing the measuring efficiency of the Pullman’s environmental management. Upon clarifying concepts of hospitality management and sustainability, the research purpose and selected theoretical framework are introduced. The chapter also contains a detailed critical review of core concepts involved in this study, such as ISO 14001, energy and waste management, and the ways in which these concepts are applied in research.
2.2 Environmental Management
The concept of sustainable development implies three dimensions, i.e., social, economic, and environmental sustainability. As a modern tendency in business development, sustainability requires all industries to develop business strategies in alignment with social, economic, and environmental concerns. In line with these objectives, owners and managers of hotels have to integrate a number of environmental management systems to growth the business while contributing to global sustainable development. The reduction of CO2 emissions is at the core of global environmental concerns resulting in a variety of environmental solutions that have been developed on the field. For example, sustainable hotel management adopts effective recycling and waste management and promotes conservation projects in line with the idea of implementing environmental management.
The principles of environmental management has been established in the framework of BS 7750, which has a lot of parallels, such as ISO 14000 series, it provides guidance to organizations in order to develop an environmental management system (Chan, 2009). The most well known series of the ISO 14000 is the ISO 14001, which focuses on a sustainable management of land, water and air and a specification with guidance for use. The first step for the company is to elaborate a written environmental policy that will show the engagement of the organization. An environmental management will include compliance with laws, codes and organization standards; a recognition of the company’s responsibility including the business partners, suppliers, customer and employees. An environmental management system should involve different aspects, such as, purchasing policies (developing partnership with suppliers; identifying sustainable products), waste management (minimizing waste in operations; reusing as much waste as possible; segregation of waste that can be recycled) and waste disposal (establish partnership with disposal companies; ensure disposal methods are sound; use land-fill disposal as last resort) (Kirk, 1995).
Figure 2.1 – Environmental management concepts and research applications
2.3 ISO 14001
According to iso.org, a standard is a document that offers requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics, which can be applied consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. There are more then 20,500 standards existent in the organization, such as, ISO 9000 for quality management, ISO 22000 for food safety management, ISO 50001 for energy management, ISO 14001 for environmental management, and so forth (iso.org, 2015).
The ISO 14000 is a series of standards, which focus on the environmental management. This research will focus on the ISO 14001 framework to examine the efficiency of the Pullman’s environmental management program in reducing CO2 emissions. According to the definition, ISO 14001 embodies processes, materials, practices, techniques, and anything else dedicated to avoiding, controlling, and reducing production, emission, and discharge of multiple waste and pollutant types. The ISO 14001 benefits the research because it encompasses treatment in terms of the pollution prevention (Kausek 2007). In relation to the same, the ISO 14001 standard is developed for organization for their process to minimize their impact on water, land and air. Through the readings, the researcher has opted to use this theory, as it can be a key element for this study because it is focused on CO2 emission, in other words, air pollution.
There are certain environmental management system requirements that are required by organizations when adopting the ISO 14001 standard.
Firstly, it requires the top management to define the scope of the organization’s environmental policy. This must include the commitment to continual improvement and prevention of pollution or the policy’s availability to the general public.
Secondly, the planning of environmental aspects, objectives, targets and program is essential in the second stage of the environmental management system requirements. When dealing with environmental aspects, the organization is required to ensure that significant environmental aspects are taken into account in establishing, implementing and maintaining its environment management system. Additionally, the organization shall establish measurable objectives that will be reviewed so that the business may implement and maintain a program for achieving its objectives and targets.
Lastly, the system requirements mention the implementation and operation of resources, training and awareness, communication, documentation, control of documents and operational control. Ensuring the availability of resources such as specialized skills, human resources and organizational infrastructure is essential to implement the environmental management system. Roles need to be defined and documented and a specific management representative shall be appointed for reporting. Via the standard, the organization should identify appropriate education and training in order to implement a procedure to make employees aware of the importance of conformity, roles and responsibilities with the environmental policy and the EMS, the potential impacts associated with their work, the environmental benefits of improved personal performance and the consequences. The EMS should be communicated within the organization in various levels and functions. They must receive, document and respond to relevant information from third interested parties. The documentation will need to include an environmental policy, objectives and targets, a description and the main elements of the EMS, and a system of recording implemented by the organization, which ensure the effective planning, operation and control of processes that are related to its environmental aspects. A recording system will need to be included in the organization in order to control the requirements, such as, approval of documents for adequacy prior to issue. In terms of operation control, companies are required to establish, implement and maintain in a written form for the procedures to control situations where absence could lead to deviation from the document from the environmental policy, objectives and targets, as well as procedures related to the identified significant environmental aspects of goods and services applied within the organization and inform the procedures and requirements to suppliers (bot.or.th, 2004).
The reason why ISO 14001 has been chosen for this paper is because the standards and requirements outlined by this committee aims to target all environmental issues relevant to its operations such as air pollution, water and sewage issues, waste management, soil contamination, climate change mitigation and adaptation, resource use and efficiency and its management performance (iso.org, 2015). Moreover, the Pullman Olympic Park hotel has been certificated with the ISO 14001 standard making it all the more relevant to the case in discussion (ISO, cited in, Chan, 2009).
Figure 2.2 – ISO 14001 concepts and research applications
2.4 Energy Management and Carbon Footprint
Any organization functioning within the hospitality industry has to conduct careful planning of operations with proper consideration of ISO 14001 requirements and upon rigorous risk and opportunity assessment. Thus, its EMS should include such aspects as air, water, and land pollution, use of raw materials and natural resources, proper energy use, responsible use of space, and waste/by-product generation (BSI Standards, 2015). An organization can control these aspects directly, so the core of an environmental sustainability strategy should contain decisions about environmental aspects the organization chooses to affect more and less.
Energy management is one of the key components of any organization’s environmental strategy, since responsible energy use and targeted effort towards reduction of the organization’s carbon footprint lie at the heart of environmental management. Here, one should distinguish between energy efficiency and responsible energy management, since the former may be achieved simply by purchasing energy at lower prices, while the latter refers to environmentally responsible actions towards minimization of global warming and pollution (Webster, 2000). Sloan, Legrand, and Chen (2013) defined energy management in hospitality as the practice of controlling procedures, operations, and equipment contributing to energy use in hotels. Therefore, responsible and sustainable energy management initiatives within hospitality have to be directed towards reduction of energy consumption to the minimal required levels, including energy engineering, energy accounting, energy cost control, conservation, and efficiency considerations (Pizam, 2010).
Numerous energy-saving systems and strategies may be employed in hospitality industry, with short-, medium-, and long-term energy-saving outcomes. Short-term savings may be achieved by means of reducing investment into energy use (e.g., turning off the lights and heating when not in use, or using thermostats to control temperature). Medium-term savings may be derived from such practices as the use of efficient light bulbs, installment of roof insulation, ensuring that all wall cavities are insulated, equipping doors with closing devices, and training staff in energy management and control. Finally, long-term savings may be achieved with the help of installing a computer-controlled air-conditioning system, double-glazing, energy-efficient kitchens, energy-efficient CFC-free refrigerators, and fuel-efficient transport (Webster, 2000).
These measures may fit the current efforts to develop sustainable hospitality industry directed towards reduction of carbon and water footprints. Besides improving reputation and popularity among environmentally aware tourists, hospitality businesses engaging in carbon footprint reduction may obtain efficiency gains and reduce operation costs with the help of responsible and wise energy management efforts. Carbon footprint reduction may be achieved by means of CO2 offsetting operations, and the ideal outcome of responsible energy management is becoming carbon-neutral. Such positive outcomes of EMS implementation are accomplishable by means of energy, fuel, and water conservation, recycling of water, glass, and organic residue, and use of local materials and contractors to reduce the carbon footprint of logistics (Sloan et al., 2013).
Specifically in the hospitality industry, energy management is performed with the help of computerized EMSs monitoring the use of utilities and focused on conservation of costs for electricity, water, and natural gas use. EMSs ensure availability of larger energy amounts during peak operating hours and minimize the use of energy during non-peak times, which leads to minimization of energy waste. Some strategies for waste minimization may include turning off air conditioning in guestrooms when patio doors are open, use of reclaimed water for irrigation purposes on the hotel’s territory, etc. The overall efficiency of the hospitality entity’s EMS efficiency may be judged by means of lower utility bills (Tesone, 2012).
Figure 2.3 – Energy management concepts and research applications
2.5. Waste Management
At present, only 5% of household and commercial waste is recycled, and 4% more are used for energy recovery, while the figure may be efficiently increased to 50% (Webster, 2000). Proper waste management possesses strategic importance in hospitality industry’s environmental management efforts, since the burden of improper waste management often lies on local areas and leads to detrimental environmental effects. Jones (2008) recommended all hospitality businesses to introduce a waste management scheme for reduction of waste, partly through recycling, which may contribute to time, material, and financial savings and produce a positive impact on the community. Especially challenging are the problems with solid waste disposal such as groundwater contamination, rodent infestation, smell, and toxic substance accumulation (Barrows and Powers, 2008). All these consequences may be present in locales where hospitality complexes neglect the need for waste management optimization, and may result in serious degradation of the surrounding environment.
Reducing waste means a lower environmental footprint of business, and recycling has recently emerged as a viable alternative to use less resources, water, and energy for production of new items. As noted by Sloan et al. (2013), the hospitality industry may become an important player in the minimization of waste irresponsibly disposed at landfill sites. Taking into account that hotels produce biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, hazardous waste, and biological wastes, improvement of waste management techniques is an imperative for the hospitality industry. Such efforts as creation of recycling centers and programs, the use of eco-friendly cleaning supplies and techniques may contribute to more efficient waste processing, while preference for locally produced goods and services may reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.
Waste management in the hospitality industry also relates to food waste; besides wasting products, disposal of uneaten meals wastes water and energy spent on food production and cooking. For instance, dumping one kilogram of beef wastes 50,000 of water spent on production of that meat, a kilo of white rice equals a waste of 1,550 liters, while a kilogram of dumped potatoes wastes 500 liters of water. Thus, proper waste reduction strategies are required for dealing with food waste more productively, including proper menu planning, purchasing, storage of products in appropriate conditions, mean preparation, serving, and cleaning (Van der Wagen and Goonetilleke, 2011).
Waste management technologies include waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. Waste reduction presupposes source reduction of excess packaging, creation of procurement policies encouraging suppliers to minimize and/or reuse packaging, and purchasing of concentrated products for later dilution. Waste reuse is meant to extend the lifecycle of products and materials before their disposal, which is even more efficient than recycling because of reduction of the amount of resource use, and a corresponding reduction in pollution. Finally, waste recycling is a practice of waste reprocessing after the end of their useful life (Pizam, 2010).
Efficient waste management in the hospitality industry possesses a number of vital advantages in terms of environmental management efficiency. First, improve waste management techniques lead to significantly lower resource requirements and improve the destination image of the facility among tourists. Second, waste management is lucrative for a hospitality business, since waste disposal has to be paid for, while waste reduction consequently reduces expenses for waste disposal (Sloan et al., 2013). Third, it is efficient in energy reduction, since waste disposal, reuse, and recycling generally involve high-energy expenditures.
Figure 2.4 – Waste management concepts and research applications
2.6 Summary
As mentioned previously, environmental management system has become a trend since last decade. An overview of the academic literature on environmental management of hospitality industry indicates its severe commitment to sustainable development. Australian businesses, including hospitality, make effort to integrate environmental management system into their operation and performance strategies. According with the current research aim to investigate the Pullman’s environmental management, a case study mixed method research seems appropriate in reference to the relevant review of literature.
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
Figure 3.1 – Overview of the research design
3.3 Philosophy
The research will utilize a realist research philosophy to conduct an in-depth investigation of the environmental management and its impact on the performance.
More particularly, critical realism focuses on explaining a theory within a context. A critical realistic philosophy recognizes the importance of multilevel study (e.g. the level of the individual, the group and the organization) and how these levels contain the capacity to change the researcher’s understanding of the structures and procedures of the study (Saunders et. al., 2012). Therefore the researcher would argue that a critical realistic epistemology is much more in line with the purpose of business and management research due to the constantly changing social world with regards to environmental management.
Concerning the Pullman Hotel, understanding the perception of different levels of management and the structures implemented within the hotel regarding their environmental program will allow the author to critically assess the findings and present an in-depth recommendation in the conclusions of the study.
In order to get acquainted with the issue and to acquire understanding of hotel industry functioning and the role of sustainability within it, the researcher intends to conduct an in-depth review of the scholarly literature. Several academic databases will be searched for the relevant publications to provide information on hospitality management, sustainability, hotel industry, and emission reduction. Since this part of the study will not imply primary data collection, it will be secondary data research. According to its definition, secondary data research is a research based on secondary data produced by prior research through primary data collection and analysis (Collins, 2010). Secondary research design allows collecting large sets of data gathered by others through primary research. In line with the current research aims to investigate environmental management practices of the Pullman Hotel via personal interviews and distributed surveys, the researcher requires to obtain comprehension of the topic. Hence, the review of academic literature will provide information on the concepts of hospitality management, sustainability in hotel industry, and adequate energy consumption. On the ground of the acquired knowledge, the researcher will be able to formulate questions for interviews and close-ended statements with predetermined answers for survey. Therefore, secondary research design is beneficial for this part of the study dedicated to getting understanding of the key themes raised.
The researcher will use Google Scholar, ProQuest, and JSTOR public databases to search for environmental management strategies and frameworks applicable to Australian hospitality industry. The scope of search words will include, but not limited to “environmental management”, “sustainable hospitality”, “Australian hospitality”, “Australian hotel industry”, “sustainable hotel performance”, “energy consumption”, “emission reduction”, “employee retention”, ‘employee satisfaction”, “Pullman Hotel Sydney”, and the like. The official website of the Australian government will provide data on the corresponding legislation that guides sustainability management in the hotel industry of Australia.
3.4 Approach
The researcher will apply both inductive and deductive approaches to the research process to investigate and “understand the context within which the research takes place” (Collins, 2010). Because of the contextual focus, inductive approach allows engaging a small sample to identify individual views. In this study, inductive approach will be applied when conducting personal interviews with hotel managers to examine their ideas and viewpoint on the implemented environmental management.
An inductive approach to the data collection process will take place during employees’ surveying. Deductive approach is amore scientific research strategy that involves developing a certain theory and testing its through data collection. Deductive research requires independent data collection to maintain objectivity (Collins, 2010). In this study, deductive approach is suitable for the close-ended survey distributed to hotel employees. The survey questionnaire will comprise a set of statements with predetermined answers; employees’ choices will provide evidence to formulated researcher’s ideas on the environmental management in the hotel industry.
3.5 Strategy
Scholars define a case study as an empirical inquiry examining a phenomenon within certain circumstances. The real-life context of such an investigation allows observing the overall complexity and particularity of a single case using multiple sources of evidence because of unclear boundaries between the phenomenon and its context (Cartwright and Montuschi, 2014). Thus, the case study design fits formulated research objectives dedicated to examining environmental management adopted by the Pullman Hotel and evaluating its impact on the overall business performance.
3.6 Methods
Quantitative research is defined as research utilizing numbers and statistical tools and methods to find explanations and predictions of a certain social or natural phenomenon in order to generalize to other populations and settings (Thomas 2003, p. 2). While qualitative research allows investigating the situational context and adjusting data collection process to that context, quantitative research serves to examine a phenomenon through its interactions with multiple variables. Simultaneously, qualitative research is limited by its subjective collection and interpretation of acquired data, and quantitative research lacks a contextual overview or participants’ voices (Merriam 2002; Creswell and Clark, 2011). To comprise benefits from two research methods and to reduce limitations of both, the researcher has decided to apply a mixed research methodology to the present study. Mixed method research is defined as research utilizing both qualitative and quantitative procedures, instruments, and methods of data collection and analysis to produce conclusions based on two data sets (Creswell and Clark, 2011). Qualitative data collection will occur through personal interviews with hotel managers. Flexible nature of qualitative interviews will allow the researcher to obtain details and to ask additional questions if needed to understand the Pullman’s environmental strategy and its implementation plan. Quantitative data collection will take place in a form of close-ended surveys distributed to hotel employees. Quantitative data collection will serve to examine employees’ views on the implemented environmental management while saving their time. Little time will be required to respond to survey statements via choosing one of the predetermined answers. This mixed method research will investigate the Pullman’s environmental management from two perspectives – managerial and employee’s – in an effective manner.
3.7 Time horizon
This research will be a cross-sectional study, the research design of which “involves the collection of information form a sample of a population at only one point of time” (Bajpai 2011, p. 34). This study design is suitable for the present research since it allows investigating the phenomenon (environmental management of the Pullman Hotel and its impact on the performance) under the condition of limited time and cost. In order to get an understanding of hotel-industry sustainability management, a cross-sectional study design is appropriate to clarify the issue in a time and cost-effective manner.
3.8 Techniques and Procedures
Mixed method research design implies utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data to produce conclusions on the analysis of the both.
3.8.1 Qualitative
Qualitative data collection part will be performed through personal interviews with hotel managers. On the ground of the reviewed scholarly literature, the researcher will determine a set of questions for personal interviews that allow exploring a phenomenon within its real-life context (Merriam 2002). The researcher will ask two managers – the General Manager and the Director of Engineering – to spend some time on giving answers to several questions concerning the implemented environmental management. Upon introducing the research aim and objective, managers will be expected to provide an oral consent to participate in the study. Managers’ responses will be recorded for further transcription, categorization, and analysis to interpret results in an objective manner (Merriam 2002).
3.8.2. Quantitative
Quantitative data collection will occur in a form of the close-ended survey questionnaire, the content of which will rely on information acquired through the literature review. With the reference to academic publications, the researcher will formulate a set of close-ended statements accompanying each statement with several predetermined answers. With the intention to engage a minimum of 100 hotel employees, the researcher will get in touch with the managers of the Pullman Hotel to introduce the research aim, purpose, and significance and to receive an approval to conduct a case study engaging hotel managers and employees. Then, the researcher will ask for email addresses of hotel employees to submit the survey questionnaire. To introduce and explain the research purpose and goals, the questionnaire will contain an introductory statement with the key information. Because of the non-paid voluntary participation nature, hotel employees are free to reject taking part in the research. Submissions of completed survey forms will be recognized as individual’s consent contribute to the research. The researcher will use analytical tools to process the obtained quantitative data.
As quantitative data is based on numericals and variables, the author will employ visuals such as graphs and statistics in order to identify and represent values that may occur more frequently than others. Additionally, coding categorical data will be applied as this method is normally well tested, saves time and allows comparisons of the results.
3.9 Selection of participants
In line with the research purpose, the study will be a mixed method one utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. According to the selected design, the research will require two different population samples obtained from a single setting – The Pullman Hotel at Sydney Olympic Park. The hotel will have a number of 20 managers estimated in total. However, qualitative interviews will engage the General Manager or the Director of Engineering responsible for the implementation of environmental management to obtain their views on the implementation strategy. Inclusion criteria for interview population sample will include employment with the Pullman Hotel and managerial position. The researcher expects consent from both managers, since participation in the research will allow them to demonstrate their success in sustainable hotel administration and to contribute to the overall Australian sustainability.
The quantitative research part will require another population sample – hotel employees – to obtain staff’s perception and acceptance of environmental management. In line with this objective, quantitative close-ended surveys will be distributed to participants via email. The researcher estimate that the hotel employs up to 500 employees, therefore the minimum of 100 hotel employees will be selected. The key inclusion criteria will be participant’s employment with the Pullman Hotel and non-administrative position at any department regardless of their age and occupation. Since the close-ended survey questionnaire will require little time and effort from participants to provide their responses, the researcher expects a high probability of employees’ consent and survey completion.
3.10 Limitations, validity, reliability, and ethical considerations
The proposed research will have some limitations that need to be mentioned. The major weakness concerns the selected methodology – while combining benefits of both qualitative and quantitative research methods, mixed method research possesses their limitations as well. Methodological limitations should be discussed within the context of research validity and reliability. The key weakness of qualitative research process concerns subjectivity of data collection and analysis. However, the study is expected to be trustworthy due to credibility, transferability, and dependability of its findings. Grounded on the scholarly literature review, interviews might be applied to similar hotel settings while providing an understanding of the investigated phenomenon (Hesse-Biber 2010).
Limitations of quantitative research part are analyzed in terms of study validity and reliability. The research aims to ensure quality of its findings through internal, construct, and conclusion validity. Based on scholarly literature, employee questionnaires will investigate the cause-effect relationship between environmental management and hotel performance and employee awareness. The selected research design, methods, tools, and procedures will be aligned with the formulated research questions and objectives. Relying on obtained scholarly information and quantitative data, the researcher will produce reasonable judgments and draw conclusions (Hesse-Biber 2010).
Despite methodological limitations, the proposed study seems reliable and trustworthy, since its findings are plausible in terms of the existing body of scholarly literature and the real-life context. Another limitation to be mentioned concerns a small population sample and a focus on a single setting, which reduces the applicability of study findings to the overall hotel sector or larger population groups (Merriam 2002). However, this limitation is of little significance, since the primary research goal is to investigate environmental management and its outcomes within a certain hotel facility.
As any research involving human participants, the study will follow relevant ethical guidelines. First, the researcher will receive approval from the hotel board or owners to contact hotel managers and employees. Second, all study participants will be informed about the research purpose, significance, and non-paid voluntary participation. The researcher will expect oral consent from interview participants and completed questionnaire forms from survey participants as their agreement to take part in the study. Through either prior communication or introductory questionnaire page, the researcher will ensure confidentiality and privacy of participants’ information. No personal data or contact information except for emails from employees will be used in the study. Lastly, the researcher will take measures to ensure information security and protection by storing all data on a personal computer in a password-secured folder.
3.? Summary
The research intends to investigate environmental management practices in the Pullman Hotel at Sydney Olympic Park and outcomes produced on the business performance. Through a comprehensive literature review, the researcher will acquire knowledge on multiple strategies, processes, and systems of environmental management. The selected mixed research methodology will allow conducting a case study within the Sydney Pullman Hotel to examine its sustainable hospitality management and its effect on business operations. Both hotel managers and employees will take part in the research to provide their attitudes, ideas, and perceptions on the efficiency of environmental management. On the ground of the reviewed literature and research findings, it will be possible to formulate recommendations for hotel managers in terms of driving their businesses towards sustainable hospitality management and achievement of a stable competitive advantage in the international market.
Chapter 4: Data Collection & Analysis
References:
Accorhotels-group (2014) Accor Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Charter. [online] Available from http://www.accorhotels-group.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Contenus_Accor/Commun/pdf/EN/accor_ethics_csr_charter_2014.pdf [Accessed 21 Novenber 2015]
Accordhotel.com (2015) Sustainable development within the hotel Pullman at Sydney Olympic Park, [online] Available at: http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-6411-pullman-at-sydney-olympic-park/sustainable-development.shtml [Accessed 20th November 2015].
Accorhotels-group.com (2015) The PLANET 21 program, [online] Available at: http://www.accorhotels-group.com/en/sustainable-development/the-planet-21-program.html [Accessed 20th November 2015].
Accorhotels-group.com (2015) Tourism and the challenge of sustainability, [online] Available at: http://www.accorhotels-group.com/en/news/tourism-and-the-challenge-of-sustainability.html [Accessed 20th November 2015].
Adams, D. (2006). Management accounting for the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries: a strategic approach. (2nd ed.). London, UK: Cengage Learning EMEA.
Australian Government Productivity Commission (2015) Australia’s international tourism industry: productivity Commission research paper, Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
Barrows, C. W., and Powers, T. (2008) Introduction to management in the hospitality industry, study guide, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons.
Bajpai, N. (2011) Business research methods, Chennai, Pearson Education India.
Brotherton, B., and Wood, R. C. (2010) The SAGE handbook of hospitality management, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications.
BSI Standards (2015) Environmental management systems – requirements with guidance for use. London, BSI.
Cartwright, N., and Montushi, E. (2014) Philosophy of social science: a new introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Chan W.W., (2009),"Environmental measures for hotels' environmental management systems", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 21 Iss 5 pp. 542 - 560
Clark, C. M. (2001) Investigation of perceptions of environmental management systems and its perceived importance in a corporation undergoing ISO 14001 certification. MS Dissertation, Johnson City, East Tennessee State University.
Collins, H. (2010) Creative research: the theory and practice of research for the creative industries, Lausanne, AVA Publishing.
Creswell, J. W., and Clark, V. L. P. (2011) Designing and conducting mixed methods research, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications.
Der Wagen, L. V., and Goonetilleke, A. (2011) Hospitality management, strategy and operations, French Forest, Pearson Higher Education AU.
Filho W.L. (1997),"Integrating environmental education and environmental management", Environmental Management and Health, Vol. 8 Iss 4 pp. 133 – 135
Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2010) Mixed methods research: Merging theory with practice, New York, Guilford Press.
ISO (2004) Environmental management systems – Requirements with guidance for use. [online] Available from https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/Banknotes/BMD/Documents/ISO14001-2004EN.pdf [Accessed 22 November 2015]
Jones, P. (2008) Handbook of hospitality operations and IT, New York, Routledge.
Kasim A., (2015),"Environmental management system (EMS)", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 Iss 6 pp. 1233 - 1253
Kausek, J. (2007) Environmental management quick and easy: creating an effective ISO 14001 EMS in half the time, Milwaukee, ASQ Quality Press.
Kirk D., (1995),"Environmental management in hotels", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 7 Iss 6 pp. 3 - 8
Longoni, A. (2014) Sustainable operations strategies: the impact of human resource management and organizational practices on the triple bottom line, Dordrecht, Springer Science and Business Media.
Merriam, S. B. (2002) Qualitative research in practice: examples for discussion and analysis, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Pantelidis, I. S. (2014) The Routledge handbook of hospitality management, New York, Routledge.
Pizam, A. (2010) International encyclopedia of hospitality management, Burlington, Butterworth-Heinemann.
Polymti.ca (n.d.) Environmental Performance Evaluation. [online] Available from http://www.polymtl.ca/namp/docweb/Modules_Web/M5_Chapter7.pdf [Accessed 21 November 2015]
Santos-Reyes D.E. Lawlor-Wright T., (2001),"A design for the environment methodology to support an environmental management system", Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 12 Iss 5 pp. 323 - 332
Singh, K. (2007) Quantitative social research methods, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications.
Sloan, P., Legrand, W., and Chen, J. S. (2013) Sustainability in the hospitality industry: principles of sustainable operations, New York, Routledge.
Tesone, D. V. (2012) Principles of management for the hospitality industry, New York, Routledge.
Tilling, M. (n.d.). Refinements to Legitimacy Theory in Social and Environmental Accounting. [online] Adelaide, South Australia. Available from: http://www.flinders.edu.au/sabs/business-files/research/papers/2004/04-6.pdf [Accessed 22 Oct. 2015].
Thomas, R. M. (2003) Blending qualitative and quantitative research methods in these and dissertations, Thousand Oaks, Corwin Press.
Unerman, J., Bebbington, J., and O’Dwyer, B. (2010) Sustainability accounting and accountability, New York, Routledge.
Van der Wagen, L., and Goonetilleke, A. (2011) Hospitality management, strategy and operations, 3rd edn, Frenchs Forest, NSW, Pearson Higher Education AU.
Webster, K. (2000) Environmental management in the hospitality industry: a guide for students and managers, London, Cengage Learning EMEA.
Interview Questionnaire
What are the strategic objectives of the implementation of ISO14001?
What are the best practices you identified during the implementation?
What are the challenges you had during the implementations?
What approaches did you use to engage the hotel employees?
How do you assess the level of employee engagement?
Does your environmental management imply special training and educational sessions for the employees?
What are the results of the environmental management (what is measured and how is it changing)?
Approximately what percentage of your income or profit is allocated to reduce the hotel’s environmental impacts.
How do you balance service quality and limiting the hotel environmental impacts?
What environmental management system or new approach are you planning to implement in the near future?
Any other interesting point you may want to add on the hotel environmental management.
Survey
1) Do you know what the ISO 14001?
2) My hotel is employing many policies to reduce its carbon footprint
3) I see feasible results of these policies
4) Maintaining an environmentally friendly business is possible
5) It is important for my company to display a good environmental image
6) Integrated environmental management will improve my company’s environmental image
7) My organization uses recycling
8) I believe that sustainability will improve my organization’s image among tourists
9) I believe EMSs can cause a feasible positive environmental change
10) I feel personally responsible for environmental management of my organization
11) Which type of environmental practice could be best improved at your hotel?
12) In your opinion, which area of environmental management could be most improved at your hotel?
13) While adopting environmental management provisions in the operational routine, what do you see as your major obstacle?
Introduction of Research
My name is Kwong Kwan Woon Kelvin and I am currently an undergraduate student in Swiss hotel Management School, as required in my study program, I have an obligation to submit a Dissertation in order to accomplish my study program. For this, I will need primary data collection; hence I would like to invite you as part of my project. The aim of my topic is to investigate the impact of environmental management on performance of the Pullman Hotel in Sydney.
Research Procedures
All participants included in this Study are required to complete a questionnaire handed by the researcher, which will aid the researcher in gaining accurate data and completing his study at a deeper understanding. In the case of interviews, a recording will be employed, however, if the participant does not feel comfortable with this procedure a written transcript will be used. Additionally, if the participant would like to prepare beforehand, the researcher will send the participant a series of questions before the interview so that participants may prepare answers accordingly.
All participants will have the opportunity to ask a series of questions given related to this study, to receive satisfactory answers to the researcher’s questions, and any additional details needed.
Discomforts and Confidentiality
Withdrawal from Research
I, the participant, have read the information presented in the information letter a study being conducted by Kwong Kwan Woon Kelvin at the Swiss Hotel Management School of the Pullman Sidney Olympic Park Hotel. I am aware that I may with draw from the study without penalty at any time by advising the researchers of this decision.
Consent Agreement
This project has been reviewed ethics clearance through a University of Swiss Hotel Management School. I was informed that if I have any comments or concerns resulting from my participation in this study, I might contact the interviewee again.
With full knowledge of all foregoing, I agree, of my own free will, to participate in this study.
________________________________
Print Name
________________________________
________________________________
In general it is OK. You could use the example in the shared dropbox folder to improve it.
