Issues in Human Resource Management

ISSUES IN HUMAN
RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Contemporary Issues and Emerging Trends associated with Human Resource Management in
Hotel Industry.........................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Designing and Developing Job Description and Person Specification..................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Demonstration of Performance Management and People Development Approaches...........6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
Completed in Leaflet..............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management refers to a range of different tools, techniques,
programmes and practices that are related towards effective planning, growth and maintenance
of human resources within a company. It is an imperative task for an organisation as this directly
impacts towards their profitability and productivity. Furthermore, it also ensures efficiency and
effectiveness within operations of the firm (Purce, 2014).
Hence, in regards to this, the report below is based on several issues pertaining to human
resource management and takes into consideration DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, London, which
is one of the most prominent hotel chains within the United Kingdom. Therefore, in regards to
this, the report would be covering reflection upon contemporary issues and emerging trends
associated with Human Resource Management in the Hotel Industry. Furthermore, the report
also includes designing, as well as development of job description and person specification from
a range of supervisory positions. In addition to this, the report undertakes demonstration of
contemporary knowledge and understanding about approaches to performance management and
people development, along with comparison amongst other similar organisations related to these
approaches. A training material is also being developed within the report for a new HR manager
on a certain HR policy and practice within the organisation.
TASK 1
Contemporary Issues and Emerging Trends associated with Human Resource Management in
Hotel Industry
Human Resource Management is an amalgamation of distinct approaches an techniques
that are subjected towards managing and enhancing the performance and overall management of
the employees working within the company (Wilton, 2016). Moreover, within the hotel industry,
this function is highly imperative as businesses within the same are required dealing with a
number of customers daily, which requires effective management of their multiple employees in
every department there is within the firm. Hence, it becomes necessary to understand and
determine the contemporary issues and emerging trends that are associated with this function
within the Hotel Industry.
As per the viewpoints of Dana Severson, (2020), the hospitality industry faces a range of
problems when it comes to human resources, which the employers and other senior individuals
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are required to deal with. Inappropriate training has been described as one of the most pressing
issues by the author, which could be viewed and analysed in two contexts. Firstly, if the turnover
rate spikes high within a hotel, the managers are required to immediately recruit new individuals
to keep up with the consistency in operation but without proper training. This leads to the
problem related to inappropriate and questionable services. The second issue in regards to
training and development of employees is that there are limited resources of making them
competent and effective towards dealing with a range of different customers and resources in an
optimal and sustainable manner. Hence, this arises major issues within the organisation towards
the performance standards of employees.
In the viewpoint of Peidi Zhang (2017), despite improvement within the UK hospitality
sector, one of the major issues within the industry is the high turnover. There are various reasons
which leads to this issue within the sector, For instance, one issue which is leading to high
turnover is associated with inadequate compensation, along with serious lack of incentive. This
represents that businesses within the industry are lagging behind in providing them ample
opportunities for personal and professional growth. Furthermore, there are also very limited
consideration of the opinions and inclusion of employees within the organisation, which leads to
loss within their engagement and integrity within the organisation. Another reason which is
associated with this issue is that there is still very much evident inequality within the whole
industry, which de-motivates employees towards working in an appropriate and effective
manner.
Another issue related to the HRM within hotel industry is unskilled and inexperienced
managers. As per the views of Sanjay Barot (2019) , currently, the hotel industry has several
inexperienced and unskilled managers which are not able to ensure effective human resource
management within the organisation and hence, are quite inappropriate when it comes to
ensuring their prominent professional growth, as well as towards retention and attraction of
employees.
Apart from the issues mentioned above, there are various appropriate emerging trends
within the industry too, which are quite necessary to be realised to ensure effective future
planning and working of the businesses within the hotel sector towards desired Human Resource
Management.
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Buhalis and et. al., (2019), describes several key emerging trends that are having a direct
impact and influence on the hotel industry. As per their research, technology has been quite
effective towards improvising the working of businesses within the sector. According to them,
there are a range of different and effective technologies such as Internet of Things (IOT),
Artificial Intelligence, Automation as well as digitalisation are all changing the practices within
the industry. Right from managing the bookings within an organisation to effective customer
services, the practices are clearly influenced by the use of technology. Moreover, the emerging
trends also include changes and improvisations within training and development approaches of
companies as well. For instance, with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, hotels
are using Simulations as training methods to create mock and different situations for individuals
within the company to work and manage their capabilities through several quantifiable
techniques to measure the same. In addition to this, with Internet of Things and Digitalisation,
appropriate communication channels are also rising within the trends towards managing
employee grievances, giving them proper instructions, as well as coordinate with other
departments as well.
Another effective trend that has been emerging at a great pace lately is Corporate Social
Responsibility within Hotels. According to Xiao, Yoonjoung Heo and Lee, (2017), CSR holds
importance within the hotel industry and has several dimensions which are crucial towards
developing a positive perception of customers. With rise in digitalisation and public awareness,
majority of customers are inclined towards visiting a hotel which is responsible in its actions
towards its stakeholders. For instance, there are various businesses in the industry, such as
Hilton, Marriott, Intercontinental Hotels Group and so forth, which are being quite particular
about reforming their CSR practices in a manner that it promotes and enhances benefits for all
the stakeholders associated with the company. This trend is based on several aspects and
elements such as the firm’s waste management systems, sustainable operations, contributions to
community, handling customer grievances, HRM and adherence to law and ethics. All these
considerations are supporting this trend towards enhance within the market, which is imperative
for each and every organisation within the sector to abide by, as well as to follow.
Therefore, it could be said that there are various issues within the Hotel Industry which
could cause roadblocks for its businesses to thrive, as well as sustain within the market.
Therefore, it is highly imperative for businesses to develop the strategies which allow them to
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safeguard their firms from these issues through appropriate functioning. Furthermore, it is also
necessary that companies like DoubleTree by Hilton London, Marriott and other hotels take into
consideration all the emerging trends within the industry and follow the same in regards to better
and effective functioning, as well as essential competitive advantage within the sector.
TASK 2
Designing and Developing Job Description and Person Specification
Large number of workforce is required to perform day to day work in a hotel especially for
effective supervision of all activity some specialised and talented individuals are also needed by
a hotel (Albrecht and et. al., 2015). Thus, use of job description and person specification
documents are made by an organisation to attract and select a suitable and talented candidate for
vacant job position. Following job description and person specification documents are design
and develop by Double tree by Hilton to fill the vacant job position for post of Manager that
form an important part of various supervisory position of this hotel.
Job Description
It is a written document that provides all relevant information to a job applicant through
outlining and determining the main duties ad responsibilities that are associated with a job
position. Thus, job description is a vital document for both an organisation as it facilitates aid
and help for HR department to short list the application that are closely matched and align with
the vacant job role that saves their time and efforts and also lead to more effective planning.
Following job description document is prepared by Double Tree by Hilton Hotel to attract a
suitable candidate for job position of mangers that is providing information about all vital role
and responsibilities associated with this supervisory position.
Job description
Title of position: Manager
Organisation: Double Tree by Hilton Hotel London
Reporting To: General Manager
Summary of Position
As the manager of Double Tree By Hilton Hotel you are required to plan and promote daily
schedules of employees and coordinate with other managers and senior management to
accomplish all activities and operations assigned on time.
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Skills requirement:
 Strong communication and leadership skills
 Scheduling and planning skills
 Time management
 Other operational and interpersonal skills
Duties and responsibilities:
 Accomplish and meet departments objective through properly managing staff and
effective planning
 Ensure timely tarining and develop better personal growth opportunities to motivate
employees.
 Set strategic goals and objectives for employees together with proper guidance and
direction to accomplish business targets.
 Develop effective coordination between staff and other departments to meet quality
standards of organisation.
Person specification
It is written document that facilitates better description and information about the
required qualification, skills, knowledge, experience and other attributes that are required to
perform a job in an effective manner (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang, 2014). Thus, it acts a crucial
document that ensures selection of a more suitable candidate by an organisation in the basis of
some pre determined and set criteria. Following person specification document is prepared by
Double tree by Hilton Hotel for vacant position of manager:
Person Specification
Job position: Manager
Division: Supervisory division
Attributes Essential Desirable
Skills  Communication skill
 Scheduling and
planning skills
 Time management
 Other interpersonal
and analytical skills
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skills
 Leadership skill
Qualification and
knowledge
 Masters in hotel
management from
certified university.
 Specialized training in
managing human
resource
 Knowledge in ICT
Experience  At least 1 year
experience in business
administration.
 At least 6 months
leadership and
management
experience.
TASK 3
Demonstration of Performance Management and People Development Approaches
Performance Management refers to effective planning, organising, enhancing and
controlling the performance standards of employees of an organisation. It is a very crucial area
within human resource management which requires the managers and other senior individuals of
a firm to develop and use a range of approaches that are subjected towards appropriate
performance management and people development (Cascio, 2015).
Therefore, in regards to this, below is a range of performance management tools which
several 4 and 5 Star organisations like Hilton, Marriott and Intercontinental Hotels Group use to
ensure management and development of performance and people respectively:
 Performance Appraisals:
This method is associated with effective review of the performance levels of all the
employees working in the organisation. It could be subjected on a range of performance attribute
such as their achievements, skills, as well as overall growth and contribution to the organisation.
Currently, the same is being used by Marriott within all of its hotels, which allows them to
consistently review the performance levels of the employees towards the set criteria and provide
them appropriate benefits in relation to their effective job satisfaction. With this method, there
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are certain advantages related to the same. For instance, a systematic review is conducted of
employees, as well as their overall performance which includes a wide range of spectrum and
their soft and hard skills. Therefore, it allows them to clearly and effectively evaluate their
personal strengths and scopes of improvement, which motivates them towards taking a range of
approaches which are necessary for their future performance. Another benefit which this method
provides the company is related to effective and systematic promotions within the firm, as it
takes the promotional criteria into consideration while monitoring the performance standards of
employees (Marchington and et. al., 2016).
However, the company is currently facing certain issues in this regard. For example, it
provides the firm with a very narrow range to evaluate its employees that reduces the scope of a
better and detailed evaluation. Another problem which the company faces is that it is very
difficult to measure the intensity of severity as well as leniency which set up the criteria for
performance management and people development.
 Key Performance Indicators:
This method is again a widely used tool for performance management and people
development which is related to setting up several indicators, such as customer service,
productivity, speed and other attributes that indicates the effectiveness within one’s performance
standards. This method is being implemented by Intercontinental Hotels Group currently. They
select their KPIs quite carefully, which ensures them to monitor the performance and deliver the
firm’s strategy towards their employees in a better and more effective manner. Moreover, the
organisation has also linked up the performance incentives of individuals with these indicators,
which directly links the benefits associated with the job roles of employees with their respective
performances (IHG: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs,. 2020). A major advantage which IHG
is currently experiencing through the application of this performance management and people
development technique is it allows to completely quantifiable the results and measures the
performance in numeric terms against the set indicators, which enables them towards evaluating
and recommending corrective actions against performance of each employee. Another benefit for
IHG through Key Performance Indicators is that it allows them to track performance record of
each employee which is imperative in such a large scale organisation having multiple chains.
However, in contrast, the indicators within this method are required to be changed
periodically, as per the changes in the market, as well as dynamism of the current business
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environment, which is quite costly and time consuming for a company having a wide range of
employees. Another disadvantage of the method is that this method is highly result-oriented,
which completely disregards the efforts put down by employees towards enhancing their
performance standards effectively which might lead towards their de-motivation (Kramar, 2014). 360 Degree Feedback:
This method is linked with acquiring an overall feedback of performance standards and
review of all the employees within a company that allows them to exercise a 360 degree
approach towards measuring the performance levels of employees. This approach is being used
by Hilton Hotels to ensure that the work of employees is evaluated in a subtle manner and their
personal and professional development could be structured effectively. In comparison to both the
methods above, this method is more detailed and provides an extensive view of the efforts,
consistency and results achieved by employees. Moreover, unlike the other approaches, it saves
time of the firm as it allows them to easily access the development opportunity for a long term
people development within the firm. However, the intervention of management is too much on
this method, which might enhance the biasness in results and might deter the feedback.
Moreover, if an employee’s feedback is negative, then this method might not focus on their
positive attributes due to the divided perspective.
Performance Management and People Development Tool:
Therefore, it could be said from the above analysis that all these methods are highly
effective in relation to managing performance and development of individuals within the
organisations (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
However it is imperative for companies to develop tools which allow them to overcome
the weaknesses of these methods as mentioned in the comparison above and allows a better and
more effective approach towards performance management. Therefore, in regards with
DoubleTree, its performance management and people development tool is mentioned below:
 Specifications:
The specification of this tool within the hotel would be that it would allow the individuals to
be assessed on both their soft and hard skills. Moreover, it would also be appropriately subjected
upon the efforts of individuals within their tasks, which will be denoted by the time they have
invested on daily basis, along with their productivity, that would be measured through reviews
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from customers or colleagues. Moreover, personal interviews would also be taken from
employees to find out their interests with respect to the firm and their career prospects.
 Strategies:
Each employee will be reviewed based on long term prosperity in their career and would
allow the individual to work towards achieving their goals along with that of the company.
 Benefits:
A major benefit which DoubleTree would be experiencing through this method is that it
would allow the firm to go even more detailed towards measuring performance of the employee.
Moreover, it would also restrict the managers in their intervention and deterring with the results.
Moreover, it would be effective enough for enhancing the engagement and productivity of the
employees through counting in their hard work and consistency within the company (Armstrong
and Taylor, 2020).
TASK 4
Completed in Leaflet
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above that it is highly imperative to appropriately
understand various issues in human resource management to acquire an insight on how this
function is performed within companies, as well as within hospitality sector. It is crucial to
explore a range of articles in relation to different contemporary issues, as well as trends emerging
in the sector to enhance the knowledge about the current and future HRM requirements for
organisations. Moreover, it is crucial to design and develop job description and person
specification for supervisory position to ensure that the requirements of the job are in alignment
with the specification of individuals. In addition to this, demonstration of a range of performance
management and people management approaches, along with comparing the same form other
organisations allow in demonstrating how best the firm is adopting these approaches and
possible improvements that could be done to ensure effectiveness. Lastly, it is necessary that new
HR professionals are acquainted by the policies and practices of the organisation through
different and creative training materials to better enhance their knowledge and expected working
standards.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Albrecht, S.L., and et. al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices
and competitive advantage. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and
Performance.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2020. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Buhalis, D., and et. al., 2019. Technological disruptions in services: lessons from tourism and
hospitality. Journal of Service Management.
Cascio, W.F., 2015. Managing human resources. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The academy of management annals. 8(1). pp.1-56.
Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource
management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management. 25(8). pp.1069-1089.
Marchington, M., and et. al., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). 67.
Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.
Xiao, Q., Yoonjoung Heo, C. and Lee, S., 2017. How do consumers’ perceptions differ across
dimensions of corporate social responsibility and hotel types?. Journal of Travel &
Tourism Marketing. 34(5). pp.694-707.
Zhang, P., 2017. A Study of the Factors that Affect Employee Performance in the UK
Hotels (Doctoral dissertation, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona).
Online
Barot, S., 2019. The current HR Issues Faced by Hospitality Industry in Recent Times. [Online]
Available Through: < https://vylogue.com/opinion/140/The-current-HR-Issues-Faced-by-
Hospitality-Industry-in-Recent-Times>
IHG: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 2020. [Online] Available Through: <
https://www.ihgplc.com/-/media/92F5A66AC9DA4BE3997D30EB364A7574.ashx>
Severson, D., 2020. Problems Faced by HR in the Hospitality Sector. [Online] Available
Through: < https://smallbusiness.chron.com/problems-faced-hr-hospitality-sector-
72422.html>
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