Quantitative Approaches on Staff Scheduling and Rostering in Hospitality Management: An Overview

Marta Rocha, Jose F. Oliveira, Maria Antonia Carravilla

INESC TEC, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.

DOI: 10.4236/ajor.2012.21016                

Abstract

Staff scheduling and rostering problems, with application in several application areas, from transportation systems to hospitals, have been widely addressed by researchers. This is not the case of hospitality services, which have been forgotten by the quantitative research literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights on the application of staff scheduling and rostering problems to hospitality management operations, reviewing existing approaches developed in other similar areas, such as nurse rostering or examining adaptable problem models, such as the tour scheduling.

Keywords

Hospitality Management; Staff Scheduling; Rostering

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	C. A. King, “Viewpoint—What Is Hospitality?” International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 14, No. 314, 1995, pp. 219-234. doi:10.1016/0278-4319(95)00045-3
[2]	C. A. Enz, “Key Issues of Concern in the Lodging Industry: What Worries Managers,” Cornell Hospitality Report, 2009.
[3]	A. T. Ernst, H. Jiang, M. Krishnamoorthy, B. Owens and D. Sier, “An Annotated Bibliography of Personnel Scheduling and Rostering,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 127, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 21-144. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019087.46656.e2
[4]	“Hospitality,” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Online, Accessed 19 May-2011. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hospitality
[5]	“Hospitality,” Collins Essential English Dictionary, Online, Accessed 10 May 2011. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hospitality
[6]	C. Lashley, “Studying Hospitality: Insights from Social Sciences,” Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2008, pp. 69-84, doi:10.1080/15022250701880745
[7]	B. Brotherton and R. C. Wood, “The Nature and Meanings of ‘Hospitality’,” In: The Sage Handbook of Hospitality Management, Sage Publications Ltd., London, 2008, pp. 35-61.
[8]	P. Jones, “Viewpoint—Hospitality Research—Where Have We Got to?” International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1996, pp. 5-10. doi:10.1016/0278-4319(96)84544-0
[9]	S. Taylor and D. Edgar, “Discussion Paper Hospitality research: the emperor’s new clothes?” Science, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1996, pp. 211-227.
[10]	B. Brotherton, “Towards s Definitive View of the Nature of Hospitality and Hospitality Management,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, 1999, pp. 165-173. doi:10.1108/09596119910263568
[11]	N. Hemmington, “From Service to Experience: Understanding and Defining the Hospitality Business,” The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 27, No. 6, 2007, pp. 747-755. doi:10.1080/02642060701453221
[12]	P. Jones, “Finding the Hospitality Industry? Or Finding Hospitality Schools of Thought?” The Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2004, pp. 33-45. doi:10.3794/johlste.31.55
[13]	B. Brotherton, “Some Thoughts on a General Theory of Hospitality,” Tourism Today, No. 6, 2006, pp. 7-19.
[14]	C. L. and A. J. Morrison, “In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates,” Butterworth-Heine- mann, Oxford, 2000.
[15]	P. Slattery, “Finding the Hospitality Industry Part I: In Search of Hospitality,” Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2002, pp. 19- 28. doi:10.3794/johlste.11.7
[16]	M. Ottenbacher, R. Harrington and H. G. Parsa, “Defining the Hospitality Discipline: A Discussion of Pedagogical and Research Implications,” Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2009, pp. 263- 283. doi:10.1177/1096348009338675
[17]	A. Wren, “Scheduling, Timetabling and Rostering—A Special Relationship?” Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1153, 1996, pp. 46-75.
[18]	A. T. Ernst, “Staff Scheduling and Rostering: A Review of Applications, Methods and Models,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 153, No. 1, 2004, pp. 3-27. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00095-X
[19]	P. De Causmaecker and G. Vanden Berghe, “Towards a Reference Model for Timetabling and Rostering,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 194, No. 1, 2008, pp. 167- 176.
[20]	P. Causmaecker and G. Berghe, “A Categorisation of Nurse Rostering Problems,” Journal of Scheduling, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2010, pp. 3-16. doi:10.1007/s10951-010-0211-z
[21]	N. Gans, G. Koole and A. Mandelbaum, “Telephone Call Centers: Tutorial, Review, and Research Prospects,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2003, pp. 79-141. doi:10.1287/msom.5.2.79.16071
[22]	T. Aykin, “A Comparative Evaluation of Modeling Approaches to the Labor Shift Scheduling Problem,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 125, No. 2, 2000, pp. 381-397. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(99)00413-0
[23]	N. Kohl and S. E. Karisch, “Airline Crew Rostering: Problem Types, Modeling, and Optimization,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 127, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 223- 257. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019091.54417.ca
[24]	N. Musliu, “Heuristic Methods for Automatic Rotating Workforce Scheduling,” International Journal of Computational Intelligence Research, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2006, pp. 309-326. doi:10.5019/j.ijcir.2006.69
[25]	K. Choi, J. Hwang and M. Park, “Scheduling Restaurant Workers to Minimize Labor Cost and Meet Service Standards,” Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 2, 2009, pp. 155-167. doi:10.1177/1938965509333557
[26]	P. Eveborn and M. R?nnqvist, “Scheduler—A System for Staff Planning,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 128, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 21-45. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019097.93634.07
[27]	G. M. Thompson, “Controlling Action Times in Daily Workforce Schedules,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 2, 1996, pp. 82- 96.
[28]	G. M. Thompson, “Labor Scheduling, Part 1: Forecasting Demand,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 5, 1998, pp. 22-31. doi:10.1177/001088049803900507
[29]	G. M. Thompson, “Labor Scheduling, Part 2: Knowing How Many On-duty Employees to Schedule,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 5, 1998, pp. 22-31. doi:10.1177/001088049803900507
[30]	G. M. Thompson, “Labor Scheduling, Part 3: Developing a Workforce Schedule,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1, 1999, pp. 86-96. doi:10.1016/S0010-8804(99)80019-6
[31]	G. M. Thompson, “Labor Scheduling, Part 4: Controlling Workforce Schedules in Real Time,” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 3, 1999, pp. 85-96. doi:10.1177/001088049904000323
[32]	M. Warner, “Scheduling Nursing Personnel According to Nursing Preference: A Mathematical Programming Approach,” Operations Research, Vol. 24, No. 5, 1976. doi:10.1287/opre.24.5.842
[33]	M. J. Brusco and T. R. Johns, “A Sequential Integer Programming Method for Discontinuous Labor Tour Scheduling,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 95, No. 2, 1996, pp. 537-548.
[34]	G. Thompson, “Labor Scheduling Using NPV Estimates of the Marginal Benefit of Additional Labor Capacity,” Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1995, pp. 67-86. doi:10.1016/0272-6963(94)00012-4
[35]	G. Thompson and J. Goodale, “Variable Employee Productivity in Workforce Scheduling,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 170, No. 2, 2006, pp. 376- 390. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2004.03.048
[36]	A. Rong, “Monthly Tour Scheduling Models with Mixed Skills Considering Weekend off Requirements,” Computers & Industrial Engineering, Vol. 59, No. 2, 2010, pp. 334-343. doi:10.1016/j.cie.2010.05.005
[37]	F. F. Easton and D. F. Rossin, “A Stochastic Goal Program for Employee Scheduling,” Decision Sciences, Vol. 27, No. 3, 1996, pp. 541-568. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1996.tb01825.x
[38]	G. Thompson and M. Pullman, “Scheduling Workforce Relief Breaks in Advance versus in Real-Time,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 181, No. 1, 2007, pp. 139-155. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2006.05.018
[39]	L. W. Jacobs and M. J. Brusco, “Overlapping Start-Time Bands in Implicit Tour Scheduling,” Management Science, Vol. 42, No. 9, 1996, pp. 1247-1259. doi:10.1287/mnsc.42.9.1247
[40]	M. J. Brusco and L. W. Jacobs, “Personnel Tour Scheduling When Starting-Time Restrictions Are Present,” Management Science, Vol. 44, No. 4, 1998, pp. 534-547. doi:10.1287/mnsc.44.4.534
[41]	H. K. Alfares, “Survey, Categorization, and Comparison of Recent Tour Scheduling Literature,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 127, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 145-175. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019088.98647.e2
[42]	G. B. Dantzig, “A Comment on Edie’s ‘Traffic Delays at Toll Booths’,” Journal of the Operations Research Society of America, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1954, pp. 339-341.
[43]	B. Cheang, “Nurse Rostering Problems––A Bibliographic Survey,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 151, No. 3, 2003, pp. 447-460. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00021-3
[44]	E. K. Burke, P. De Causmaecker, G. V. Berghe and H. Van Landeghem, “The State of the Art of Nurse Rostering,” Journal of Scheduling, Vol. 7, No. 6, 2004, pp. 441- 499. doi:10.1023/B:JOSH.0000046076.75950.0b
[45]	M. W. Isken, “An Implicit Tour Scheduling Model with Applications in Healthcare,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 128, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 91-109. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019100.08333.a7
[46]	J. C. Goodale and G. M. Thompson, “A Comparison of Heuristics for Assigning Individual Employees to Labor Tour Schedules,” Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 128, No. 1-4, 2004, pp. 47-63. doi:10.1023/B:ANOR.0000019098.97205.cc
[47]	M. J. Brusco and L. W. Jacobs, “Cost Analysis of Alternative Formulations for Personnel Scheduling in Continuously Operating Organizations,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 86, No. 2, 1995, pp. 249-261. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(94)00063-I
[48]	K. A. Dowsland, “Nurse Scheduling with Tanu Search and Strategic Oscillation,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 106, 1998, pp. 393-407. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(97)00281-6
[49]	U. Aickelin and K. A. Dowsland, “Exploiting Problem Structure in a Genetic Algorithm Approach to a Nurse Rostering Problem,” Journal of Scheduling, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2008, pp. 139-153. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1425(200005/06)3:3<139::AID-JOS41>3.0.CO;2-2
[50]	E. K. Burke, J. Li and R. Qu, “A Hybrid Model of Integer Programming and Variable Neighbourhood Search for Highly-Constrained Nurse Rostering Problems,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 203, No. 2, 2010, pp. 484-493. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2009.07.036
[51]	I. Blochliger, “Modeling Staff Scheduling Problems. A Tutorial,” European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 158, No. 3, 2004, pp. 533-542. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00387-4
[52]	E. G. Keith, “Operator Scheduling,” IIE Transactions, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1979, pp. 37-41.