Agile4ALL - Implementation of an Agile HR Pilot in a Tourism SME in Algarve

Abstract

This human resources management project was carried out by the University of the Algarve to apply an innovative vision of agile practices to the hospitality and tourism sector. Recently, agile human resources have attracted increasing interest among professionals. Starting with the Agile Manifesto, this approach was initially implemented in the information technology sector to combine processes and tools, such as Lean, Kanban and Scrum, to improve organisational performance. Agile companies are more informal and use open communication, as well as showing greater motivation and productivity. However, the transition to agile operations is disruptive. Some common failures are a sense of culture shock and a lack of support for and knowledge about agile practices, which require an appropriate communication strategy that involves all stakeholders in a continuous feedback loop. The project pilot was implemented in a small and medium-sized company in the Algarve tourism sector. The goal was to analyse the feasibility of transforming a traditional organisation into an agile one, with human resources employees and management acting as the main promoters of this process. The results confirm that an agile transformation is possible, but seasonality factors and the participants’ availability must be considered for this process to be successful. A set of follow-up studies is proposed for future research.