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Describes the elements of a successful employee training programme. Explains the distinction between training and education, along with a discussion of why “soft skills” training initiatives are less effective than skills‐based approaches. Discusses the critical role of the training manager in implementing a training programme, as well as important considerations when developing a strategic training plan. Finally, describes several key factors which determine how employee training programmes can best support company profitability.

Many companies have adopted self‐directed work teams as a way to empower their employees and thus enhance both productivity and quality. Many of these same companies, however, have experienced a myriad difficulties and problems in attempting to implement a team programme. Explains how to determine if your company could benefit from using a team management approach, as well as how best to “set the stage” for an empowerment programme such as teams. Includes useful strategies for implementing teams, a discussion of the critical role of management, how long the transition can be expected to take, how to deal with issues of accountability, and the importance of initial and ongoing training. Addresses the concept of team efficacy in the context of why teams are successful at some companies and disastrous at others.

This paper aims to provide insights into service innovation (SI) during the COVID-19 crisis and its potential impact on tourism development in the medium-to-long term. The pandemic had a devastating effect on the industry, requiring immediate mitigation. It is yet to fully establish the impact of SI in the face of the COVID-19 volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). This study discusses the potential link between SI and COVID-19 crisis mitigation and offers recommendations for tourism recovery.

This paper synthesizes empirical evidence on post-crisis tourism SI using a theory-based general literature review approach.

COVID-19 crisis spun various forms of SI, which emerged as a conventional solution to crisis prevention, encompassing the management of crisis-time competitiveness, revenue deficits and risk perception. However, resistance to innovative services is linked to situational conditions.

COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis. Therefore, this study serves as a primer for further inquiry into SI. For instance, areas such as governance in tourism innovation and consumers' inclination toward innovation-driven services are underexplored.

SI acts as a situational facilitator, but its characteristics can impede or facilitate adoption. Moreover, the irrelevance of innovations in some environments is evidenced. Thus, practitioners must adopt a responsive learning approach in SI adoption. To mitigate the COVID-19 impacts, reconfiguration in SI, recovery marketing strategy, knowledge gap and governance will be critical interventions.

This paper is one of the first comprehensive discussions on the potential role of SI in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the THI.