Human Resource Management in Hospitality

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of human resource management (HRM) within the hospitality sector. It emphasizes the significance of adhering to relevant employment laws and regulations to ensure a harmonious work environment. The document highlights key HRM functions, best practices for employee satisfaction and retention, and the challenges faced by the industry. Additionally, it explores the impact of diversity management, employee knowledge sharing, and career development on overall success in hospitality.

Running head: HR MANAGEMENT
HR Management for Service Industries
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Role and Purpose of Human Resource Management in Hospitality Industry................3
1.2 HR Plan for Hilton Hotels after Evaluating the Demand and Supply in Hospitality
industry.......................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Current State of Employment Relations in Hospitality Industry.........................................5
2.2 Impact of Employment Law on Human Resource Management of Hilton Hotels..............6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The human resource department plays a crucial part in the operations of a corporation
whether such business is in service or manufacturing industry, both have their distinct
responsibilities and obligations to handle and manage the workforce. The primary role of
human resource department is recruitment and retention of employees; it is their duty to hire
the right person for the right job. They focus on recruiting qualified workforce and efficiently
handle them to maintain peace in the company by understanding the grievances and
requirements of the workers. The human resource department also manages the salaries,
wages, bonus, and performance appraisal for the employees.
There are multiple employment laws initiated by the government to safeguard and protect the
rights of the employees in different industries. Nowadays the human resource management
performs the activities of motivating the employees and managing the grievances since these
are prime issues for workers in an organisation. This report will concentrate on analysing the
human resource management in “hospitality industry” and justify an HR plan for “Hilton
Hotels” after evaluating the demand and supply in the hospitality industry. Further, the report
will analyse the current position of employment relationships in the hospitality industry and
understand the impact of employment law on human resource department of Hilton Hotels.
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1.1 Role and Purpose of Human Resource Management in Hospitality
Industry
Role of HRM in Service Industry
In case of the service industry, the human resource department (HRD) has various
responsibilities and duties regarding managing and handling peoples. The human resource
department arranges recruitment drives to hire a workforce. As per Kusluvan et al. (2010),
their first step includes planning of the recruitment procedure and then HRD employ the
workforce from various places, such as colleges, universities, placement agencies, referrals
from employees and many others, based on the required qualifications. After the recruitment
process, the HRD concentrate on providing training to the workforce to increase their
efficiency and make them familiar with their work and organisational environment. In case of
Hilton Hotels & Resorts, the company provides various services to its guests such as baggage
storage, barber shop, gift shop, a concierge desk, room service, laundry/valet service, multi-
lingual staff, safety box, parking facility and many others. Human resource department is
required to hire enough and qualified workforce to perform such tasks (Boxall and Purcell,
2011).
According to Bratton and Gold (2012), the training support and motivates the employees to
work with higher productivity. In case of the service industry, the human resource
recruitment is based on the qualifications and skills of candidates since many of its functions
are based upon technical aspects which require specialized knowledge in workers. For
example, in Hilton Hotels, it is significantly important to recruit the workers who are pleasant
and intelligent at the same time because the guests are their prime responsibility and the
workers should treat guests most suitably and pleasantly. The HRD of Hilton Hotels is
responsible for recruiting and training the employees as per the requirements and improves
their skills such as behaviour with guests, positive attitude while interacting with them and
others (Storey, 2014). It is an essential skill for employees in hospitality industry the attitude
and behaviour of workers influence the reputation of the hotels.
Purpose of HRM in Service Industry
As per Armstrong (2014), the primary purpose of HRM is the recruit qualified employees in
an organisation; it is a significantly important task since employees can build or destroy a
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corporation’s reputation and growth in the industry. Hilton Hotels is a large hotel chain with
operations in more than 570 locations, therefore, they require a large number of workers with
specified qualifications (Hilton, 2017). They perform activities relating to welfare, safety, and
safeguard of interest of employees and also ensure that the company meets required safety
guidelines at the workplace. The compensation of the workers is set by the HRD which
include base salary, bonus, incentives and other. The HRD is also requiring complying with
different employment laws to avoid conflict and misunderstanding between management and
workers. Training is one of the primary requirements for employees especially in case of the
hospitality industry; it is the responsibility of HRD to provide necessary training to the
workers to assist them in every possible way.
1.2 HR Plan for Hilton Hotels after Evaluating the Demand and Supply
in Hospitality industry
Human resource planning is focused on fulfilling the requirement of present and future
human resource requirements such as recruiting qualified workforce, providing training, and
monitoring the workers for effective supervision (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). For
ascertaining and meeting the present and future requirements of human resources, the HRD is
required to do proper forecasting of demand and supply to ensure they only hire a required
workforce. The HRD conduct a human resource audit to determine the required number of
HR in the future, they collect the numbers from the results of projections and evaluation like
the business industry project the sales estimations by adequate projections. The hiring
procedure is based upon the planned budget of the company which provides the salary scale
for every post.
There are various other factors which are necessary to be considered by the HRD of Hilton
Hotels such as turnover rates of workers, transfers, promotions and many others. Many
candidates possess required qualification by they expect salary higher than planned; the HRD
should avoid hiring such candidates. Hilton Hotels is opening 50 new rooms for their guests
in their Westminster, United Kingdom location; there must be sufficient employees to fulfill
the requirement of guests. The HRD should analyse the employees turnover ratio since it
causes loss to the organisations as they spend signification amount on training but workers
leave the organisation. The employee turnover ratio is influenced by different factors such as
transfer, termination, retirement, resignation, and others (McPhail, Herington and Guilding,
2008).
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There are two prime sources through which Hilton Hotels can forecast its employee's demand
and supply, internal and external source. The internal source defines the people working in
the company, and the external source defines people hired by the corporation but who work
outside. At the time of forecasting demand and supply, HRD analyse various factors which
include collecting data regarding the requirement of workers, who prefer to learn new tasks
and which employees are comfortable handling more responsibilities (Groschl, 2011). The
HRD examine various factors such as market trends, students’ enrolment, and national &
international markets. These factors contribute to the planning of HRD to recruit required
qualified employees.
2.1 Current Position of Employment Relations in Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is as labour intensive market rather than capital since it is based on
the performance of human resources. The example of a human resource in this industry
includes various departments such as marketing, finance, HR, housekeeping, kitchen, front
office and many others. It is significantly important for maintaining healthy industrial
relations in the organisation (AlBattat and Som, 2013). The industrial relations define the
relationships between management and employees of the company, these relationships assist
in proper utilisation of resources and provide maximum results. It also focuses on resolving
disputes and enhancing the social benefit for both the parties. In the hospitality industry, the
employment relationship is considered important as it develops good understanding and
bonding between employees and management.
Any conflict or dispute can be solved easily by establishing good employment relations. This
also assists in reducing fraud as people have an understanding, and they work together for
achieving common objectives. The hospitality industry has distinct working conditions as
compared to other sectors; it requires 24*7 presences of workers to escort the guest in the
hotels. There are various problems in the hospitality industry such as health and safety of the
workplace, long working hours, peak season workload and many others (Kong, Cheung, and
Song, 2012). There are several trade unions in the hospitality industry which are established
to develop a healthy relationship between management and employees to safeguard the
employees’ benefits and rights. Trade unions perform activities such as negotiation of salary
scales with management for the workers. They discuss key modifications and alterations in
the organisational environment and also provide various services to employees such as legal,
educational and financial (Li, Sanders and Frenkel, 2012).
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According to Kim and Lee (2013), every worker has right to join trade unions to protect their
rights and interests. The culture in the hospitality industry in positive because celebrating
festivals and other occasions together. Therefore, the employees have close bonding with
colleagues and management. They care regarding others’ sentiments and provide a solution
for different grievances, consultations, disciple rules and participation. Employees received a
good status in the hospitality industry since they are considered as valuable resources for
hotels. They are given freedom to work accordingly, and they can provide a suggestion for
improvement of the workplace. These aspects assist in maintaining a positive relationship
between management and employees.
2.2 Impact of Employment Law on Human Resource Management of
Hilton Hotels
Every country has different laws regarding protection of rights and interest of workers. The
Employment Rights Act 1996 provides the provision regarding rights of workers, these
regulations apply to all industries, and few guidelines are for specific industries (Barnard,
2012). The contract of employment is different for each worker as it includes things like
office timings, week offs and others. The contract does not include various things such as
honesty, behaviour or other, so it followed as per the prescribed law. The human resource
management of Hilton Hotels is influenced by the employment law as it provides provisions
regarding hospitality industry. Various services of Hilton Hotels in influenced by the
employment law such as barbershop or gift shop since they are required to maintain a
contract for different aspects such as whom receive the profits or who bear the expenses.
Hilton Hotels collects personal data of its guest which is accessible to employees. As per the
Data Protection provision, employees cannot leak such data, or else Hilton Hotel can take
appropriate action against them. The regulation of Employment Law provides provision
regarding basic pay scale, working hours and many other which is required to comply by the
Hilton Hotels (Lee and Ok, 2012). The employees can file a suit in case of noncompliance
with provided regulations. The employees can collect information regarding their rights if
they did not know or if they are confused. Many corporations discriminate against workers
based on their gender, caste, colour or religion.
The Equal Pay Act 1970 stop corporations from discrimination based on gender. The Sex
Discrimination Act 1975 protects employees from caste discrimination and The Working
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Time Regulation 1998 restricts long working hours for employees (Ineson, Yap and Whiting,
2013). The employees have various rights such as they can keep their employment contract,
and they have right to work in the safe and healthy environment. The hospitality industry is
requiring paying remuneration as per the law, and they cannot discriminate based on gender,
religion, colour or caste. They are obligated to provide specified maternity and sick leaves.
The employees have right to access their records maintained by Hilton Hotels. The Hilton
Hotels is also requiring defining the clause of night shift in the employment contract. These
provisions assist in reducing the conflicts and dispute between the employees and
management.
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Conclusion
To conclude, the HRD has a significant role in efficiently managing the operations of an
organisation. They focus on recruiting qualified employees and provide necessary training to
improve their productivity. The purpose of HRD also includes maintaining healthy industrial
relationships to reduce conflicts between administration and workers. In the case of
hospitality industry, the demand of requirement of human resource is considerably high as it
is a labour centric industry. The HRD of Hilton Hotels is requiring analysing employees’
requirement and turnover rates to establish an HR plan. The HRD required maintaining a
healthy employment relationship in Hilton Hotels as it assists in the growth of the
organisation. The HRD of Hilton Hotels is required to analyse various laws relating to
employment, and proper compliance is necessary to avoid any dispute or conflict.
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References
AlBattat, A.R.S. and Som, A.P.M., 2013. Employee dissatisfaction and turnover crises in the
Malaysian hospitality industry. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(5),
p.62.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Barnard, C., 2012. EU employment law. Oxford University Press.
Boella, M. and Goss-Turner, S., 2013. Human resource management in the hospitality
industry: A guide to best practice. Routledge.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Gröschl, S., 2011. Diversity management strategies of global hotel groups: a corporate web
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Management, 23(2), pp.224-240.
Hilton., 2017. Explore Hilton. Hilton. Retrieved from <
http://www3.hilton.com/en/about/locations/index.html >
Ineson, E.M., Yap, M.H. and Whiting, G., 2013. Sexual discrimination and harassment in the
hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, pp.1-9.
Kim, T.T. and Lee, G., 2013. Hospitality employee knowledge-sharing behaviors in the
relationship between goal orientations and service innovative behavior. International Journal
of Hospitality Management, 34, pp.324-337.
Kong, H., Cheung, C. and Song, H., 2012. From hotel career management to employees’
career satisfaction: The mediating effect of career competency. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp.76-85.
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Kusluvan, S., Kusluvan, Z., Ilhan, I. and Buyruk, L., 2010. The human dimension: A review
of human resources management issues in the tourism and hospitality industry. Cornell
Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), pp.171-214.
Lee, J.J. and Ok, C., 2012. Reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction: Critical role of
hotel employees’ emotional intelligence and emotional labor. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 31(4), pp.1101-1112.
Li, X., Sanders, K. and Frenkel, S., 2012. How leader–member exchange, work engagement
and HRM consistency explain Chinese luxury hotel employees’ job
performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), pp.1059-1066.
McPhail, R., Herington, C. and Guilding, C., 2008. Human resource managers’ perceptions
of the applications and merit of the balanced scorecard in hotels. International Journal of
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Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals).
Routledge.
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