Human Aspect as a Critical Factor for Organization Sustainability in the Tourism Industry

Mehmet Ulus and Burcin Hatipoglu
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Mehmet Ulus: Department of Tourism Administration, Boğaziçi University, Bebek/Istanbul 34342, Turkey
Burcin Hatipoglu: Department of Tourism Administration, Boğaziçi University, Bebek/Istanbul 34342, Turkey

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: Organizations adopt diverse strategies to govern the technical and managerial aspects of sustainability implementation processes. The need for better leading and managing people-related issues emerges as companies aim for more effective change towards sustainability. The human aspect of the sustainability implementation process is mostly not paid enough attention, but it can significantly affect the success of a change management program by creating hurdles or easing the process. This study considers three human-related factors: resistance to change, internal communication, and employee engagement in sustainability activities of organizations. The aim of the study is to explore how these human factors are managed by tourism companies for organizational sustainability. For this purpose four companies from different sectors of tourism are chosen as case studies and the results are examined using qualitative data analysis techniques. The results indicate that the companies which are in a more advanced stage of sustainability implementation manage human factors using a greater number of channels and employ varied strategies. The results can provide insights into how organizations tackle the challenges of managing human aspect and display the practices that contribute to successful change management programs for achieving organizational sustainability through people.

Keywords: organisational sustainability; human factors; tourism; Turkey; change management; collective case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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