Effective human resource management in the entertainment industry

This article focuses on the human resource management of the amusement and theme park industry which has been growing significantly over the last decade. To be successful in the entertainment industry, most theme park companies apply four general human resource strategies: (1) Hire the right people (2) Develop people to deliver service quality (3) Provide needed support systems (4) retain the best people. These strategies are commonly used and shown in the cases of the Disney Company, Universal Studios, and LEGOLAND. However, most of the research in this article focuses on the Disney World theme park, which has become the epitome of excellent customer service, and has set an example for other theme parks to follow. Successful companies must develop various strategies to select the right employees for the right positions, train them for superior customer service, and reward their performance for customer satisfaction. To achieve employee success, it requires a lot of efforts from many individuals in an organisation. Especially, the organisation’s corporate culture and policies must reinforce superior customer service to give clear guidelines for employees’ behaviours. Top management needs to reward and recognise employees who perform extraordinarily in the area of guest service. After all, superior guest quality is that which brings differentiation and profit to any theme park company. Therefore, if customer service is an important issue to an organisation, then people have to be important.