Reflecting on hospitality management education through a practice lens
| Pages | 353-363 |
| Date | 07 September 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-04-2015-0013 |
| Published date | 07 September 2015 |
| Author | Marc Stierand,Laura Zizka |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Reecting on hospitality
management education through
a practice lens
Marc Stierand and Laura Zizka
Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland and
University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO),
Delémont, Switzerland
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reect on hospitality management education from a
“practice epistemology” and discuss how a connecting of savoir (theoretical knowledge or “knowing”),
savoir-faire (knowing how to do tasks, i.e. task-related skills) and savoir-être (knowing how to be, i.e.
behavior) can develop into practical knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach – The purpose of the paper is achieved through novel reading of
the literature on practical knowledge and formativeness applied to a higher education context.
Findings – The paper suggests that it is only through the creation of context that a sensation of
practicing for students can be provided, which ultimately may lead to practical knowledge. Context
must be actively created through situations that invite participation to explore the logic of practice.
Therefore, savoir should be treated as “organizing knowing” and savoir-faire and savoir-être as
“practicing knowing” to do and to be, respectively. The terms savoir,savoir-faire and savoir-être were
chosen for this paper, as they were the common reference terms used in hospitality (master-)
apprenticeship systems in Europe.
Originality/value – The value of the paper is a personal reection on a practice epistemology for
hospitality management education from the perspective of two academic faculty members who have
been practitioners in the hospitality industry and who regularly teach hospitality executives.
Keywords Knowing, Practice, Hospitality management, Formativeness
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change.
And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn”. Drucker’s (2001) testimonial
becomes tangible by looking at the career-focused behavior of the Millennials, the
generation born between 1982 and 2000, for whom personal development and
continuous learning is crucial (Shaw and Fairhurst, 2008) and who have the drive to
learn and grow fast (Walsh and Taylor, 2007;Solnet and Hood, 2008). Research on
Millennials conducted in the hospitality industry stresses the self-directed and
pro-active career planning behavior (Shaw and Fairhurst, 2008) and the unwillingness
to wait for career opportunities to occur (Walsh and Taylor, 2007). These Millennials are
ambitious and impatient, want to live life in the moment (Erickson, 2008) and demand
both support and sufcient freedom to make career-related decisions (Shaw and
Fairhurst, 2008). Although it is ill-advised to generalize all Millennials as sharing the
same personality characteristics or ethics, the Millennials referred to in this paper derive
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Hospitality
management
education
353
Received 1 April 2015
Revised 9 July 2015
Accepted 10 July 2015
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 4, 2015
pp.353-363
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-04-2015-0013
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