Role and Purpose of Human Resource Management in a Service Industry

This presentation analyzes the role and purpose of Human Resource Management (HRM) in a selected service industry, specifically focusing on the Hotel Hilton. It discusses the various responsibilities of HRM, including planning, recruitment, selection and deployment, training and development, and employee relationship. The presentation also justifies the need for a human resource plan based on supply and demand analysis in the service industry. Additionally, it assesses the current state of employment relations in the service industry and discusses how employment law affects the management of human resources in a hospitality organization.

Task 1

1.1 Analyse the role and purpose of Human Resource Management in a selected
service industry
The roles and responsibilities of human resource management in Hotel Hilton. HRM are mainly
focussed on recruiting the best available talents in the organisation. HRM in hospitality
industry is extremely essential because mainly its a customer driven industry and hence
quality is essential. Every employee plays a very pivotal role, hence they need to be properly
trained with HRM aspects.
The roles are as follows:
• Planning
• This is the first step in HRM where the requirements in the human resource is first identified
and estimated. The Hotel Hilton management of human resource looks into their
organisational structure and identifies which areas are in need of additional workforce. Along
with planning, forecasting is also done as that ensures the organisational principle and the
business strategies are successfully fulfilled. Thus the gap in workforce is filled (Boxall,
2011).

Recruitment
Once the Hilton management forecasts the number of employees needed, the recruitment step
follows with the aim of choosing the best employees for the company so that the leading
position in the competitive market can be gained and maintained. Also, by recruiting best
employees, best services to the customers are also ensured. Hilton performs on campus
recruitment procedure at various management colleges, B-schools and universities to choose
from the fresh graduates. They are subjected to aptitude tests and interviews to check if they
are eligible to meet the criteria set by Hilton. Internal recruitment also takes place in the
Hilton by transferring the employees from one branch to other or from one department to
other and thus maintain a balance of the workforce. Promotions are also effective in this
regard (Hoque, 2013).

Selection and deployment with continuous monitoring
The selection includes aptitude tests and interviews. The candidates who are found in
possession of best of the skills and qualities that would suit the vacant positions in
Hilton are selected and further proceedings are performed. After choosing the eligible
individuals and recruiting them as employees with the company the Hilton HRM
deploys them to their individual departments and starts monitoring their work minutely
to check for perfection and ensuring that the new recruits are responsible enough to
carry out the orders or tasks allocated to them properly and meet the organisational
goals. In case employees are found to have problem with the work, they are identified
separately and corrective measures are taken at Hilton (Kusluvan, 2010).

Training and Development
Hilton is functional in hotel and hospitality sector where the trends are susceptible to
changes over the time with the changing behaviours of customers and their
demands. Hence, Hilton HRM arranges for training and development programmes
at the interval of a particular time so that the employees remain updated about the
changes and learn new methods. This way, the employees grow also and take to
challenges at workplace.

Employee Relationship
The Hilton HRM is responsible for maintaining healthy employee-employer relationship post recruitment
and throughout the tenure of the employment. HRM is responsible for formulating employee-friendly
policies so that the employee benefits are maximised. Also, the Hilton HRM looks into the matter so
that a safe and healthy workplace environment is maintained and ensures effective communication is
channelled through the hierarchy.
Hilton HRM can be termed as both Hard and Soft HRM. The former part of the HR department focuses on
the organisational development only by implementing the resources while the latter is also concerned
about employee benefits, emotions of them etc and motivates them in times of need. Neither hard nor
soft HRM alone can bring out the best results and hence Hilton applies both in proper measure so that
both organisational growth and employee retention are guaranteed (Jiang, 2012).

1.2 Justify a human resource plan based on an analysis of supply and demand
for a selected service industry business
The HR Manager at the Hilton is responsible for recruiting workforce in the organisation who are best with
their qualities and ensures that Hilton is successful in serving the customer demands satisfactorily. HR plan
at Hotel Hilton is as follows:
Identifying the positions in need of human resource within the hotel
Recognising the eligibility criteria and the qualities, skills etc to be present in the employees
Recruiting the eligible candidates chosen from various educational institutes and other sources
Selecting the candidates best suitable for Hilton after completion of aptitude tests and interviews
Evaluating the plan and monitoring it (Chang, 2011)
• With respect to the supply and demand in the market, the Hilton Hotel is largely affected by the external
factors which again range from political to environmental. Such factors and their effects are described
below:
• Political factors such as VISA rejection of specific individuals such as non-US nationals and the non-
Europeans lead to reduced flow of tourists and increased number of booking cancellation

Economic factors like Brexit issue has caused a downturn in the overseas tourism to the UK affecting the profit and
turnover
Social factors like incorporation in the market as a strong brand allows Hilton to attract more customers
Technological factors like intervention of internet and facilities of room booking online acts positively on Hilton
business and also the extensive use of social media elevates the supply and demand chain as the tourists post their
experience with Hilton on websites like TripAdvisor, Facebook etc.
Legal factors are important as Hilton abides by the employment laws and regulations of the UK
Environmental factor such as the last eruption of the volcanic ash cause delay in flights, closing down of airports
etc and Hilton customers are stuck by these (Chelladurai,, 2017)
When the HR department performs the evaluation and monitoring of the human resource plan tee effectiveness of the
same is checked and it is made sure that the organisational objectives are adhered to. If there are areas that need
more improvement, measures to do the same are taken.

2.1 Assess the current state of employment relations in a selected service
industry
Often a number of problems regarding clash of opinions, conflict between the employees
and the management, confusion upon a decision taken by the management etc can occur
within a hospitality or hotel company. Unions step in these places by bringing all of the
employees under one umbrella and trying to resolve problems by acting as an
intermediary in the employee-employer relationship. In this way the safety of the
employees is also maintained. Hilton employees are part of their own union which
ensures the same (Riley, 2014).
A number of employee laws are relevant in the case of maintaining perfectly balanced
employee relationship. Throughout the employee life cycle the legislations that Hilton
management needs to be aware of and implement for their employees are myriad. These
are mentioned below:

Recruitment
Equality Act, 2010 to ensure no discrimination is made during the recruitment process on the basis of
age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, caste etc
Rehabilitation of Offenders 1974 to enable rehabilitated offenders gets a chance of being employed
Data Protection Act, 1988 to keep the information collected for the recruitment purpose confidential
(Aswathappa, 2013)
Pre-employment checks
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 to prevent the individuals found to be unsuitable for working
with children and adults of the vulnerable groups from joining the company
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 to check for involvement of the candidates in illegal
works and if found positive results, not to absorb them in Hilton as that would make for a criminal
offence

Employment
Employment Rights Act 1996 for ensuring that major employment
relationship elements are emphasised upon such as employment
relationship, study leaves, training facilities etc
Fixed term Employees (Prevention of less favourable treatment,
2002) regulations to ensure that the employees with fixed term
contracts implement the works allocated to them
Part Time Workers to employ not only regular employees but part
time workers too and pay them accordingly (Nadiri, 2010)

Training and Development
Equality Act, 2010 so that training is imparted to the employee irrespective of
difference in them
Employment Rights Act, 1996 to ensure development of intra-organisational
theories in practice
Educational and Skills Act 2008 to ensure that the person undergoing training
at the company are of the minimum age of 17 and/or born after 01/09/1997
Employee Study and Training Regulations 2010 to consider the applications
made by the employee regarding study or training (Jackson, 2014)

Change in personal circumstance
Employment Rights Act, 1996 to ensure development of intra-
organisational theories in practice
Flexible Working Regulations 2014 to enable employees work in
flexible arrangement if he has the ‘minimum service eligibility’ and
without a history of similar request within past 12 months
Employment Act 2002 to allow maternity, paternity leaves and
adoption leaves including pay to be enjoyed by the employees
(Bailey, 2018)

Performance Management
Equality Act 2010 so that performance is measured with regard to outcomes and no discriminations
are made on the basis of age, sex, disability, race etc
Employment Rights Act 1996, for maintaining employee relationship by taking into account the
employment particulars, training etc to measure the level of performance
Industrial Action
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation Act) for collective consideration of labour
relations and considering the trade unions within the company (Swarbrooke, 2012)
Mergers and Acquisition
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations to enable the employees to
have their own rights on the event of change in the employer when undertaking or transfer changes

Termination of Employment
This section of the employee life cycle involves the implementation of the
following laws and legislations
Employment Rights Act 1996
Equality Act 2010
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
Collective Redundancies (Jiang, 2012)
Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of employment) (Amendment)
Regulations 1999

2.2 Discuss how employment law affects the management of human resources
in a hospitality organisation of your choice
The employment laws effective in the functioning of Hotel Hilton in terms
of achieving the organisational objectives. Some particular law affecting
the whole organisational procedure at Hotel Hilton are described below:
Health and Safety at Work, 1974
This particular act is involved in providing the employees with a workplace
from where the heavy metals, instruments etc can act as potential harmful
situations as the government is acting serious law. Protective wearing,
gloves are provided to the company with their details.

Data Protection Act
The Hilton management is extremely careful about the data they collect about the human resources and also
the management has been nurturing it continuously. No information regarding the already living customers
or employees working here or even the people who had been here earlier can ever be gathered from the
employees as they are trained likewise (Chen, 2011).
Equality Act 2010
Hilton abides by the rules and regulation of the UK legislation and avoids all types of discrimination while
being functional in the society. No discrimination regarding age, gender, race, ethnicity, colour, religious
beliefs etc are ever entertained at the hotel. By this the employees and the boarders both are protected and
the performance is the ultimate criteria for the measurement of performance and appraisal of the same.

Employers’ Liability Insurance Act 1969
This particular act calls for the preparation of insurance policies regarding the safeguarding
ab. The Hotel Hilton management provides insurance so that the liabilities of the employers
are covered properly under the insurance. It also holds the employer’s liability to an
employee’s performance it would make him hurt in any ways (Ahammad, 2013).
Besides all these, the acts mentioned before are also abiding by the laws and acts namely
Right to Equal Pay, Workplace Regulation Act, 1992, Working Time Regulation 1998 etc.
All these laws are extremely important to maintain the employees within the organisations.
Every employee should be aware of these laws and their implications so that they should
take their jobs seriously and should abide by the laws.

Thank You