| Abstract [eng] |
Tourism is on its way to becoming a global phenomenon generating the largest revenues in the service sector. As an economic activity, tourism is related to cultural heritage, social life, and economic growth, and contributes to revealing the unique identities of different regions, as well as to the reduction of disparities in living standards both in cities and peripheries. The rapid growth of tourism and continuously evolving travel habits lead to a situation where those employed in the tourism sector are increasingly required to be highly skilled and expected to not only comply with all the relevant professional standards, but to also be capable of working in one of the most dynamic areas of the service sector. To obtain a competitive advantage, tourism organisations facing intense competition are required to ensure that their employees have an exceptionally high competence level which allows them to tackle assignments in an effective and creative manner, strive towards high performance, develop the organisation’s partner and social network, explore different cultures and transfer acquired knowledge to consumers. Thesis subject: competence of employees of the tourism sector. Thesis objective – the development of a tourism sector employee competence portfolio. The objective is further detailed by way of specific tasks which determine the structure of the thesis as a whole: the theoretical part consists of a conceptual analysis of the concept of competence, and the identification and substantiation of the competence of employees of the tourism sector; the project part specifies the results of the quantitative and qualitative studies which identify the requirements applicable to the competence of employees of the tourism sector and the manner in which the competence of employees of the tourism sector of Panevėžys is expressed; in addition, the structure of the tourism sector employee competence portfolio, based on the results of the studies, is provided. Thesis methodology employed to solve the aforesaid tasks is comprised of an analysis of the scientific literature, a questionnaire survey and document analysis, statistical data analysis, and qualitative content analysis. An analysis of the scientific literature has shown that while the concept of competence is often interpreted in disparate ways, generalising from the opinions of different researchers and making a systematic judgement allows us to make the claim that competence is typically understood as a person’s accumulated knowledge and the use thereof; his/her personal qualities; the complex of skills and capacities; behavioural expression and the control thereof. Both the Lithuanian and foreign scientific literature identifies a wide variety of competences necessary for those employed in the tourism sector, yet the results of a systematic analysis of different scientific resources enables the distinction of several key competence groups which comprise the tourism sector employee competence portfolio, namely – general competence (personal, social, and communicative competence), managerial competence (management skills, strategic thinking and leadership) and professional competence (intercultural and digital competence). The aforesaid qualitative and quantitative studies were performed for the purposes of assessing the requirements applicable to those employed in the tourism sector, as well as the expression of competence of the employees of the tourism sector of Panevėžys. A qualitative content analysis of job vacancy advertisements in the tourism sector has shown that employers typically emphasise the importance of their prospective employees’ personal competence, specifying the necessary personal qualities and education, while the formal professional standards applicable to employees of same sector emphasise the importance of strategic thinking and digital competence. Based on the quantitative study, employees of the tourism sector of Panevėžys can be said to be primarily characterised by digital competence, which refers to the capacity of tourism managers to look for necessary information via different channels, and personal competence, which indicates that managers employed in the sector are self-critical, empathetic, motivated to achieve maximum performance, and capable of understanding other people and their behaviour. Finally, results of the qualitative and quantitative studies were used to develop the tourism sector employee competence portfolio, as well as recommendations intended for the following interested parties: developers of professional standards applicable to employees of the tourism sector, employers, and employees. |
