Management Concepts in Hospitality Industry: A Case Study of Shangri-La Hotel

This report discusses the application of marketing, HRM, leadership, and processes concepts in the hospitality industry using Shangri-La Hotel as an example. It also highlights the importance of people management and management styles in achieving organizational goals.

Hotel & Hospitality Management

Running Head: Report
Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Findings: Theory and practice.....................................................................................................................4
Application of the marketing concept......................................................................................................4
Marketing mix concept and its application..............................................................................................4
Role of HRM...........................................................................................................................................5
Management styles..................................................................................................................................5
People management.................................................................................................................................6
Leadership...............................................................................................................................................7
Processes.................................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................10
1

Running Head: Report
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to understand the insights of the management theories and concepts by
taking a Shangri-La hotel as an example. This report outlines the organizational background and
applied some of the marketing, HRM and leadership concepts in order to understand their
importance. The hospitality sector is a very broader group of business and it is very important for
these industries to manage each and every task carefully in order to stay competitive in the
market as well as to achieve the goals of the company. The whole report revolves around the
management concepts and the purpose of this study is to find the role of these concepts in the
placement organization as well. In this report, the marketing mix concept, Human resource
management concept, leadership, processes and people management has been discussed in the
context of the placement organization. This report is written with intent to find out the role of
manager and leader in the managing the different tasks of the organization. A manager or a
leader in the organization can use this various styles to perform the activities such as autocratic,
democratic bureaucratic and Laissez-faire leadership. Management style in an organization is
highly dependent on the various factors like industry, employees, its location as well as the
owners. Policies and procedure of the organization are also essential to manage and to adopt the
leadership style which is suitable for the organization. In last the conclusion has been drawn in
this report based on the findings of this report.
2

Running Head: Report
Introduction
Hospitality industry is the broader group of business that provide services to the customers
through hotels, restaurants, event planning business centers. The most important part of the
hospitality sector is the hotels that offering services to the customers with regard to
the accommodation, food and other room services. In this report, organization that has chosen is
Shangri- la hotel situated at Sydney in Australia. This is a five-star hotel offering extraordinary
services to the customers providing rooms and Suites, free Wi-Fi, flat screen TV, mini bars and
bathrooms. Shangri-La hotel is the luxurious hotel providing amenities, suits and food services
to the customers. The mission of the company is to “cater the need of every customer” by
providing them services and facilities. The dedicated and experience staff of Shangri-La hotel try
to offer the facilities and services according to the needs of the customers. The services and
facilities offered by the hotel include business centers, conference facilities, non-smoking rooms,
and laundry service. The hotel is located at 176, Cumberland Street, The Rocks Sydney in
Australia and the target market is the Australian people as well as the people coming from the
other different countries. Moving further, the management of Shangri La hotel delivers world
class experience to its customer and offering 24/7 hours’ services to the customers and they can
contact company anytime for their enquiries (Keelson, 2012).
3

Running Head: Report
Findings: Theory and practice
Application of the marketing concept
In today's world, to stay competitive in the market, firm needs to apply marketing theories or
models in the business. Marketing is the concept which is different for different people and it is
an option to achieve the corporate goals through satisfying the customers by offering excellent
services. According to the Okpara, marketing is the institutional activity which is designed to
build strong relationships with the customers as well as to create the customer satisfaction by
offering them to achieve the goals of the company (Aga, et al., 2017). In the hospitality sector,
marketing is playing the most important role and according to theoretical concept, various
models can be applied to the hospitality sector. Therefore, Shangri La hotel can also make use of
the strategies such as product, price, place and promotion that helps to gain the customer
satisfaction and to build the image of the hotel (Londe & Morrison, 2007).
Marketing mix concept and its application
Marketing mix concept involves the four different strategies which can be used by the hotel in
order to attain corporate goals. Product strategy is very important and crucial for marketers
because with the help of this strategy, hotel can identify the target markets as well as the needs
and wants of the customers. Product is basically an item or anything that satisfy the needs of the
consumer. Sometimes, hotels are more involved on their physical structure and equipment rather
than the services offered by the company. Pricing strategies also the key element of the
marketing mix where the marketers can use the price as the weapon to gain the success in the
competitive market (Isoraite, 2016). It is analyzed that excellent services and products offered at
4

Running Head: Report
a reasonable price will lead to gain a success in the hospitality sector. Promotional strategy is
basically used to create awareness among the people about these products and services offered
by the company and to communicate the relevant information to the customers through the
various promotional channels like advertisements, personal selling, sales promotion and Public
Relations. In marketing, place or location of any business is also important part as it contributes
to the achievement of marketing objectives. Shangri La hotel is located at Sydney in order to
cater the needs of the Australian people as well as business travelers (Burnett, 2008).
Role of HRM
Moving to the second discipline, human resource management is the part of organizational
management. The human resource manager needs to perform the various functions such as
planning organizing directing and controlling in hotel management. HRM is the concept that
falls into getting the work done through other people. In the hotel industry human resource
management is also playing an important role, in order to manage all the activities in the hotel
industry. Peter F Drucker says that human is the resource available to the organization which can
grow and develop. The managerial functions performed by the human resource manager in the
hotel are planning, organizing, directing and controlling. All these functions are important to
achieve the organizational goals and to cater the needs of every customer (Hoque, 2000).
Management styles
A manager or a leader in the organization can use this various styles to perform the activities
such as autocratic, democratic bureaucratic and Laissez-faire leadership. Management style in an
5

Running Head: Report
organization is highly dependent on the various factors like industry, employees, its location as
well as the owners. Policies and procedure of the organization are also essential to manage and to
adopt the leadership style which is suitable for the organization (Ganga, 2012).
In placement organization, the manager style that needs to adopt must be able in getting the job
done from their subordinates. Business communication plays the very important role in
managing the activities and operations. In the hotel industry also, the communication skills of the
human resource managers should be very high. It is evident from the various studies that a good
manager need to appreciate the success of team members and allows them to analyze their own
work and find out their mistakes. A good leader or manager need to give the correct directions to
the team members in order to achieve the organizational goals. In hotel industry, it is found that
the managers need to give concern to both the task as well as human resources. In hotel industry
the services are highly dependent on the performance of the employees so the manager needs to
improve the performance of the employees by adopting transformational leadership styles (Attih,
2013).
People management
People management in the placement organizations is very effective. Employees are the most
important asset of every organization. A good manager is one who understands the needs of the
employees and he should focus towards employee satisfaction. A manager will set and define
goals and objectives of the organization and communicate about the goals to the people working
at the placement organizations. A manager should give directions to the employees in order to
6

Running Head: Report
achieve the company. People working in the organization can be managed by fulfilling their
needs, and by offering them some incentives, rewards and appreciation, when they perform well
in the organization. The employee motivation is very important to keep employees to the part of
the company for a longer period of time (Group, 2018).
Leadership
Leadership is a process of guiding, directing and influencing the behavior of people working in
the organization. It is an ability of a leader to influence the employees working in the
organization to perform with confidence and zeal.
Some of the characteristics of leadership are:
 It is inter-personal process influencing and guiding people towards the
achievement of goals.
 It is a group process
 A leader is always involved in shaping the behavior of other people
 Leadership is highly based on the situation; every problem can be sorted by
adopting the different leadership styles depending on the situation (Lisiński, et al.,
2012).
A leadership can be managed in the organization by adopting some strategies such as recruitment
of the positive people, true motivation and performance-based awards.
7

Running Head: Report
Processes
Nowadays, every organization followed some kind of process, involving a sequence of task and
activities that is integrated to achieve the organizational objectives. Manager, sometimes find it
difficult to getting the things done from others without any process. Therefore, there is a proper
process such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling in management in order to get the
work done from others, which need to be followed by the managers in order to attain the
organizational goals. Processes are like a solution for the problem it can be defined as a
collection of task and activities together in order to resolve the problem and transform the inputs
into outputs. Common examples of processes include decision making, customer service process,
new product development process and order fulfillment. A manager can manage these processes
in the organization with their skills and abilities (Schraeder, et al., 2014).
Conclusion
From the above findings, it is analyzed that the marketing and human resource management is
the most important concept which can applied to the hotel industry. The industrial training
programs at the hotel Shangri-La are very effective for my personal career growth as I have
gained a great knowledge about how to manage the people in the organization as well as how to
perform in the organization in order to achieve the organizational goals. Industry trainings are
the great opportunity for the candidates to gain the enough experience during academics and they
can learn a lot about the organizational behavior. Students have the theoretical knowledge about
the marketing mix concepts and human resource management concepts, but after these training
programs, candidates are able to analyze things practically. During the industrial training
8

Running Head: Report
programs, it is analyzed that manager should give directions to the employees in order to achieve
the company. People working in the organization can be managed by fulfilling their needs, and
by offering them some incentives, rewards and appreciation, when they perform well in the
organization. The employee motivation is very important to keep employees to the part of the
company for a longer period of time. Moving further, the theories are also applied during the
industrial training program and it is observed that Peter F Drucker says that human is the
resource available to the organization which can grow and develop. The managerial functions
performed by the human resource manager in the hotel are planning, organizing, directing and
controlling. All these functions are important to achieve the organizational goals and to cater the
needs of every customer.
In last, it is suggested that these types of industrial training programs should be organized for the
students on a frequent basis to gain the practical knowledge. The recommendation for the
Shangri- La hotel is that they should focus on the trainees and their capabilities and should offer
some placement or career opportunities for the students. Hiring a potential staff for the
workplace is very important as the success of the hospitality sector is highly based on the
performance of the employees.
9

Running Head: Report
References
Aga, A., Ben, U. & Chukwuemeka, O., 2017. Marketing Approach to Customer Complaint
Management in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. pp. 86-92, Available at:
http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.her.20170203.12.pdf
Attih, O., 2013. Appllication of Marketing Concept in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry in
Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: An Evauation. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-
JBM), 14(2), pp. 17-22.
Burnett, J., 2008. Core Concepts of Marketing, Available at: https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/Core-Concepts-of-Marketing.pdf
Ganga, S., 2012. Hotel industry and human resource managmnet: A theoretical overview,
Available at: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/21380/12/12_chapter2.pdf
Group, S.-L., 2018. Catering to your every need: Services & Facilities. [Online]
Available at: http://www.shangri-la.com/sydney/shangrila/about/services-facilities/
Hoque, K., 2000. Human Resource Management in the Hotel Industry, Available at:
http://www.economy.gov.ae/Publications/Kim_Hoque__Human_Resource_Management_in_the
_Hotel(BookSee.org).pdf
Isoraite, M., 2016. Marketing mix theoretical aspects. 4(6), pp. 1-13, Available at:
http://granthaalayah.com/Articles/Vol4Iss6/04_IJRG16_C06_07.pdf
Keelson, S., 2012. The Evolution of the Marketing Concepts: Theoretically Different Roads
Leading to Practically Same Destination!, Available at:
10

Running Head: Report
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312985541_The_Evolution_of_the_Marketing_Concep
ts_Theoretically_Different_Roads_Leading_to_Practically_Same_Destination
Lisiński, M. et al., 2012. Application of Modern Management Concepts by Polish Companies –
Analysis of Research Results, Available at:
http://organizacija.fov.uni-mb.si/index.php/organizacija/article/viewFile/443/857
Londe, B. & Morrison, E., 2007. Marketing Management Concepts Yesterday and Today,
Available at: https://www.ama.org/documents/4996187.pdf
Schraeder, M., Self, D., Jordan, M. & Portis, R., 2014. The Functions of Management as
Mechanisms for Fostering Interpersonal Trust. Advances in business research journal, Volume
5, pp. 50-62.
11