Book Review: Human Resource Management by Danny Araneta Cabulay and Christine Palafox Carpio.

Book Review: Human Resources Management in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry; a Comprehensive Guide for Teachers, Practitioners, Students and Industry Mentors by Danny Araneta Cabulay and Christine Palafox Carpio. Manila: Rex Book Store, 2009. 399p.

According to Mayor Aldrin San Pedro, Mayor, Muntinlupa City,  in its blurb, this book is "highly informative and truly enlightening that students, practitioners and educators would find it a very useful tool. The anticipated growth of the tourism and hospitality industry makes it a 'must' reading material for everyone so that all sectors of Philippine society may contribute their share in pushing to reality the projections made."

The authors are both highly qualified to write the book, Mr. Danny Araneta Cabulay was a former dean of the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance of Far Eastern University and a CPA. He has served, among others, as Human Resources Director of Hyatt Regency Manila and Training Manager, Dusit Thani Hotel as Rooms Director. The co-author is a practicing lawyer, and she holds a master's degree in Business Administration (High Distinction) from the Far Eastern University, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication Arts from De La Salle University- Manila.

With the above statement from Mayor San Pedro,  I checked the contents of the book, its citation, its bibliography, its examples, its presentation, and other aspects to find out the veracity of the statement of the honorable mayor.

Its table of contents, among other things, shows that the book is comprehensive in scope.

It divided into 6 parts.

Part I--Introduction to Human Resources Management
Part II--Human Resources Planning and Organization
Part III--Personnel Management
Part IV--Training and Organization Development
Part V--Industrial Relations
Part VI--Global and Local Challenges in Human Resources
Index.

Looking deeper into the book, I found out that each chapter begins with a famous quotation, e.g. "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.--Oscar Wilde. Another one is "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing--that's why we recommend it daily."--Zig Zigler.

Below this is a list of challenges which inform the reader, especially the students, what they are expected to learn after reading the chapter.

Then it provides a strategic overview wherein the students are given a further hint on what possible implications the said chapter has presented.

At the end of the chapter, one can find a synthesis of the whole chapter, then a list of key terms, discussion quiz, chapter quiz, and class activities.

And an internet research which provides a short background of a certain issue/event which is published in the internet and which the students are encouraged to read the whole write-up, and are then required by their professor to write a short essay on the said issue.

The last part of the chapter is the Endnotes or the list of sources that the authors had used.

Each chapter contains about ten relevant pictures.

I randomly checked the grammar of the sentences, and the spelling of some words, and I am convinced that they are OK.

There is a portion of this book that really caught my attention, and I quote:

"Mockery. Sometimes the quality of responses from trainees could pose a challenge. There are those who would sidetrack the trainer and undermine his capability or credibility. There are those who make fun of the sessions and not take them seriously. There are those who are boisterous, troublesome and inattentive during the sessions. Call these problematic participants once in a while to participate so they would tend to stop whatever undesirable behavior they are doing and learn to focus on the discussions. Give these participants some responsibility (sic), e.g assisting with the training equipment, facilitating teams, and the like', p. 252.

This book has a glossy and attractive cover with paperback pages. Its reprinted pictures are in black and white. Some pictures, however, are blurred.

But I noticed that its Endnotes need some revision because it does not have a place of publication and the name of the publisher.  Its electronic sources are also very disturbing because it only provides the website. It should have the date when it was retrieved.

Although each chapter has a list of key terms but I think, this book will be more valuable, particularly,  to the students if it has a glossary of terms.

Also, its index needs revision to make it more useful to the readers. Example, it has this entry on dismissal:

 "dismissal, 202". 

Looking at the other entry, I found this, among others:

industry, 328
   constructive dismissal, 330
   discrimination, 332,

It would have been better if the "constructive dismissal, 330" entry were also included in the entry "dismissal"' to lessen the time and effort of the readers in finding relevant information.

From its coverage, I can say that this book is indeed a "highly informative and truly enlightening" not only for students of management, more particularly to tourism, and hospitality students, but also to management practitioners,and teachers in management.

Whatever comments I have here are but suggestions to make this book more useful to all stakeholders.

Truly, if I have money, I will surely buy a copy of this book.