The COVID-19 crisis is unique in many ways, not least of which is that it led the interconnected world of business to experiment with its first global, supply-side disruption. In the hospitality industry, for example, during the first wave of the pandemic (April-May 2020), more than 70 percent of hotels in Europe were closed, international flights were less than 5% compared to the same period in 2019, and restaurants were forced to close and, if lucky, provide takeaway and delivery. The willful and concerted shutting down of the productive capacity of the economy thus forced managers, leaders, and educators to rethink their problem-solving approaches as past perspectives proved, in many cases, to no longer be as relevant as before. This has been shown to be true not only at the macroeconomic level of nations, but in all management fields as industries, firms, and individuals, began to make sense of the likely long-term impacts on their ecosystems.

This reframing of perspectives is not so much about invalidating existing theories as it is about questioning the relative balance of specific parts of these theories. In other words, it is just as much about the process of rediscovering underappreciated conceptual lenses whose relevance has suddenly been made more salient through the COVID-19 experience. Additionally, the crisis seems to have accelerated pre-existing managerial trends pertaining to ecosystem design, business model innovation, technological mediation, and human creativity. For example, recent hospitality industry trends such as increased automation, brand authenticity and sustainable development will likely gain momentum as they address many of the industry’s shortcomings laid bare by the crisis.

The shift in focus and perspective recommended by the scholars who have contributed to this paper, therefore, suggest that both educators and practitioners need to make a significant break from the past with regards to what matters in each academic discipline and managerial function. These recommendations foreshadow a radical departure from ‘business as usual’, which is reflected in the strategic nature of the changes being called for.

3.2 Greater uncertainty calls for nuanced and complex solutions

A recurring theme is the need to extend and refine existing concepts and theories to include a more nuanced view of the world. These extensions and refinements bring with them greater complexity to our understanding of how the world works. It is undeniable that the COVID-19 crisis has raised uncertainty to unprecedented levels: forecasts become guesses, firms try to reinvent themselves, customer needs are being redefined and physical workplaces redesigned. Greater complexity may be the necessary feature to effectively handle this higher level of uncertainty. This harks back to the ‘Law of Requisite Variety' (Ashby, 1956) which advocates that, for a system to sustain itself over time, it should match the complexity of the environment in which it finds itself.

It is noteworthy that few of this paper’s scholars advocate for a push towards greater simplicity or a 'return to the core' as has, in the past, often been the touted remedy when hospitality firms face dire circumstances (Seo & Jang, 2013). On the contrary, many of the recommended content changes suggest the inclusion of extra dimensions to existing models rather than the removal of superfluous features in order to simplify them. Furthermore, these changes are, for the most part, strategic in nature, and deal with the very survival of the firm through greater resilience and adaptive capabilities. They are also both reactive (in response to the current crisis) and proactive (in anticipation of future ones). The multidimensional nature of the solutions, therefore, reflects the far-reaching and unpredictable repercussions of COVID-19 on tightly interconnected nations, economies, industries and their firms and people. For example, as governments closed borders, restricted movement of people and goods, and imposed new regulations, the interconnectedness of the many different hospitality and tourism sectors became evident as never before. This blurring of the boundaries between these different industries necessitates solutions developed using a systems-level view of these problems.

3.3 Achieving human-technology symbiosis will be key

This paper’s scholars also note that extant processes and tools are taking a backseat to human-driven contributions. These imply greater richness and complexity – to cope with emergent patterns of behavior that are no longer deterministic or linear - since they emphasize, both, emotional skills – greater creativity, aesthetics, and empathy – and cognitive skills – adoption of design thinking, systems thinking, and paradoxical thinking.

While individuals regain a central role in a world that is increasingly one of probabilities and scenarios rather than forecasts and plans, our scholars argue that they should do so with the help of the appropriate technologies. The human-technology symbiosis is a recurring theme throughout this paper, and thus may well be a managerial pre-requisite for dealing with, and preparing for, the unavoidable discontinuities with which firms have to contend. Parenthetically, these discontinuities also represent opportunities for those able to unlock the synergies that may emerge from the creation of new strategies and the adoption of technology-enhanced human interactions. The paper’s discussion of functional disciplines, including revenue, marketing and foodservice management, demonstrate that customer-facing technologies will be increasingly important and prevalent. They will, therefore, require a greater level of sophistication in order to strike the appropriate balance between historically high-touch experiences and the pandemic-driven need for technological mediation in the service-heavy hospitality industry.

References

  • Ashby, W. Ross. (1956). An introduction to cybernetics. Chapman & Hall, London.
  • Seo, S., & Jang, S. (2013). The roles of brand equity and branding strategy: A study of restaurant food crises. International Journal of Hospitality Management, volume 34, 192-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2013.02.014

Demian Hodari, Ph.D.
Professor of Strategic Management
EHL

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