Agile4ALL – An Agile Human Resources Pilot Implementation in an Algarve Tourism SME

Diogo M. Bento, Joaquim P. Contreiras and Francisco J. S. Pinto
Additional contact information
Diogo M. Bento: Faculty of Economics, University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Joaquim P. Contreiras: Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being (CinTurs), University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Francisco J. S. Pinto: School of Management, Hospitality and Tourism, University of the Algarve, Portimão, Portugal

Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, 2026, vol. 14, issue 1, 55-72

Abstract: This human resources management project was carried out by the University of the Algarve to apply an innovative vision of agile practices to the hospitality and tourism sector. Recently, agile human resources have attracted increasing interest among professionals. Starting with the Agile Manifesto, this approach was initially implemented in the information technology sector to combine processes and tools, such as Lean, Kanban and Scrum, to improve organisational performance. Agile companies are more informal and use open communication, as well as showing greater motivation and productivity. However, the transition to agile operations is disruptive. Some common failures are a sense of culture shock and a lack of support for and knowledge about agile practices, which require an appropriate communication strategy that involves all stakeholders in a continuous feedback loop. The project pilot was implemented in a small and medium-sized company in the Algarve tourism sector. The goal was to analyse the feasibility of transforming a traditional organisation into an agile one, with human resources employees and management acting as the main promoters of this process. The results confirm that an agile transformation is possible, but seasonality factors and the participants’ availability must be considered for this process to be successful. A set of follow-up studies is proposed for future research.

Keywords: People Management; Strategic Human Resources (HR); Agile; Tourism Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M12 M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cieo.pt/journal/J_1_2026/article4.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:jspord:022411

DOI: 10.34623/wg3y-pe13

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being is currently edited by Patrícia Pinto

More articles in Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being from CinTurs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve University of Algarve, Faculty of Economics, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal, Coordinator of the Centre: Prof. Manuela Guerreiro, E-mail: mmguerre@ualg.pt. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Silvia Fernandes ().