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MNG10723 Hospitality: History, Politics and Culture

About this unit

Introduces students to the phenomenon of hospitality in its broadest context. Develops students' understanding of the structure and characteristics of the political, cultural and historical factors of hospitality that shape the way the concept is considered in the contemporary environment. The unit constructs and reframes current concepts of hospitality and challenges the normalised beliefs of hospitality personally, socially and commercially.

Content

Topic 1. Origins and development of hospitality (history, culture and place)
Topic 2. Sociology of hospitality (people, performance and practice)
Topic 3. Critical evaluation of contemporary hospitality spaces (spaces, commercialisation, consumerism in the global context)
Topic 4. Politics Topic 5. Community

Graduate attributes and unit learning outcomes

As a graduate of Southern Cross University, you will have developed skills, values and attitudes that are essential for gaining employment and advancing lifelong learning. The University refers to these asgraduate attributes(http://policies.scu.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00091#s3) and identifies them as follows:

GA1Intellectual rigour, GA2Creativity, GA3Ethical practice, GA4Knowledge of a discipline, GA5Lifelong learning, GA6Communication and social skills, GA7Cultural competence.

This unit will assist students to develop the following graduate attributes (shown below as they relate to this unit's learning outcomes):

Learning outcomes for this unit

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. investigate the concept of hospitality as a phenomenon
  2. critically examine and develop a personal philosophy of hospitality and hospitableness and analyse how this shapes both hospitality and the individual experiences involved in the consumption of these products and services
  3. explore how history, politics and culture are integrated and in turn mediate the complex issues confronting contemporary hospitality as both a business and phenomenon.

Learning resources

The referencing style used below is Harvard.PLEASE NOTE that you may need to use a different style for this unit.Refer toReferencing guides(https://www.scu.edu.au/library/ study/referencing-guides/)for information about the referencing style you should use.

Prescribed texts and materials

There are compulsory readings and a Study Guide for this unit. SeeMySCU (http://learn.scu.edu.au)for details.

Optional texts and materials

Optional texts

Lashley, C & Morrison, A 2002,In search of hospitality: Theoretical perspectives and debates, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.

Lashley, C, Lynch, P & Morrison, A 2006,Hospitality: A social lens, Elsevier, Oxford. O’Gorman, K 2010,The origins of hospitality and tourism, Goodfellow Publishers, Oxford.

Studying this unit

The first step in managing your study for this unit is to familiarise yourself with this document and theMySCU(http://learn.scu.edu.au)Learning Site. You should refer frequently to the MySCU Learning Site for announcements and updates.

This unit is organised in a series of themes (over 12 weeks), in which there are a number of topics that relate to specific aspects of the theme being explored. For those studying at a distance – you can participate in discussion on any of the topics, which will be facilitated through online discussion boards and collaborate sessions. Remember the more effort you put into communicating the more you will get out of the experience.

Each topic has been designed to give you the background information you’ll need to better understand the information in the next topic, and to complete the assignments required by specified dates in the study period. If you’re having any difficulties with the material, ask questions, start a discussion, get in touch with me or with other students. The study of 'hospitality' (as a social science) is a complex and interdisciplinary field and you will find that there are endless debates about the questions raised by the subjects we arelooking at so don’t feel concerned if you have questions – bringing them to the className/group is strongly encouraged! It is also important to remember that in many (if not most) cases there is no ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ response.

Rather it is about how you argue your perspective or viewpoint – but ensuring you use supporting ‘knowledge’ gained from your critical engagement with academic texts.

For distance students – The distance learning folder is a virtual space for locating and using information as well as providing an overview of each topic. Located in the folder you will find information about assignments, and the activities and readings for each topic that relate directly to the assessment tasks. While it is not intended to provide an exhaustive or definitive catalogue of contemporary issues (or literature) about hospitality, it does provide a substantial starting point for ideas in the area of hospitality studies. Throughout the guide you will be introduced to a wide range of academic and non-academic sources, and topics that are relevant to the subject matter of the unit.

A good starting point is to read through the Unit Information Guide in order to understand your assessments and how the unit is organised. Having a good look, early on, at your assignments will be helpful in focusing your study and research.

Assessment overview

This is a graded unit and grades are awarded as detailed in the University's Rules Relating to Awards. To achieve a passing grade in the unit all assessment tasks must be submitted and an overall mark of 50% or more must be obtained.

Assessment details

Assessment 1: Wiki

This assessment is for these students only:Melbourne - Hotel School; Sydney - Hotel School.

You will be placed in a group (via Blackboard – numbers will depend on classNamesize), where you will be required to work together to complete a Blackboard 'Wiki'.

The following table lists the topics you will need to include in your Group Wiki:

What is Hospitality? Illustrate the relationship between tourism and hospitality at both a business and a destination level
Service or Hospitality?Think about what service means and what hospitality means. Have they become synonomous over time?
Service or Hospitality?Think about what service means and what hospitality means. Have they become synonomous over time?

Hints for developing a wiki

These questions may direct your thoughts:

  1. Use images as a way to visually support your discussion/argument.
  2. Include topical items from media sources but remember to think critically about what they are saying.
  3. Engage with the academic literature to give rigour to your discussions and argument. Why, for example, are things the way you say they are? Think abouthowyou know this? Are there other pespectives?

Assessment 2: Essay

It might be suggested that 'commercial' hospitality is just an extension of hospitality in the home – do you agree? Discuss, using both academic literature and real world examples.

For this assignment you need to be thinking about what 'home' means, not just to you but others. You might begin by thinking about the following questions.

How do ideas of home influence where and how, and to where, tourists travel? How might the tourist's search for 'authenticity' or safety influence accommodation choice? How and why might contemporary forms of commercial accommodation (for example those in the sharing economy) provide opportunites for tourists searching for so called 'meaningful' experiences? How might traditional accommodation providers be re-imaging their products and experiences to compete with 'new' forms of commercial accommodation?

Assessment 3: Report

As you may have found in assignment 2, it is becoming clear that hotel companies are increasingly using the concept of'home'as a way to design, develop, market and indeed deliver, thehospitality experience.

You have been employed as a consultant by a hotel or tourist company to prepare a report on the ways that commercial (and other types of) accommodation providers are making use of hometo market their 'offering'.

You have also been tasked with suggesting waysyourorganisation might make use of these concepts and why.

Be sure to:

  • provide some background to the business that has employed you as a consultant (this will allow your tutor/lecturer to situate the business)
  • structure this assignment as a formal business report
  • include rationale for your recommendations. This might include making use of current academic research (and literature) in order to strengthen your argument/discussion.
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