Role of Talent Management in Overcoming the Threat of COVID-19 in the Hospitality Sector

Research Topic: “Role
of talent management
in overcoming the
threat of COVID-19 in
the hospitality sector”.
A case study on the
Hoxton.
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Abstract:
The main purpose of the research is to determine the impact and issues created by
COVID-19 on business operations of The Hoxton, London. Further there will be review the role
and talent management practices within The Hoxton hotel and there will be analysis of the role
that could be played by talent management in overcoming the threat of COVID-19 within The
Hoxton Hotel. There has been use of main research method that includes primary and secondary
methods. The main methods that have been used in the report include the application of both
primary and secondary research methods. In this primary method had been used to identify the
view points of respondents and secondary have been based on existing literature review sources
that is used as a part of whole research work.
The main findings of the research has been to use Effective employee engagement, Positive
employee experience, Workplace optimisation and Use of motivation techniques for the purpose
of maximisation of workforce contribution towards dealing with the high amount of uncertainty
associated with this COVID 19 pandemic.
Further it can be concluded that talent management strategies are one of the most
important tools that are used by human resource management in the present changing scenario.
These techniques help organisations in the development of competitive advantage. It also leads
towards handling the uncertainty that is taking place in the external dynamic environment. The
present covid-19 situation has completely transformed the functioning of different industries
across the globe. It has to lead to the generation of effective talent management strategy as a
mitigation tool to reduce the negative impact of this pandemic on operations of the organisation.
The main limitation of the research report is based on analysing the role played by
talent management strategies to manage the threat of the covid-19 virus. The report is limited
information because of unavailability of adequate source that can contribute towards effective
achievement of objectives. So it is an issue that may affect the future expansion of this research
work and has lead to availability of limited sources of the information in the present research
work. Apart from this the talent management practices in the context of the selected hospitality
organisation have some confidential information that cannot be include in the report that leads to
limitation of the research work.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
Background to the study.........................................................................................................4
Research aim..........................................................................................................................5
Research objectives................................................................................................................5
Research Questions,...............................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................6
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................................................................8
Chapter 4: Analysis and findings...................................................................................................11
Analysis and findings.....................................................................................................................11
Chapter 5: Critical appraisal and recommendations......................................................................19
Chapter 6: Conclusions..................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22
Appendix:.......................................................................................................................................24
Ethical form:..................................................................................................................................24
Questionnaire.................................................................................................................................26
Gantt chart:.....................................................................................................................................30
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Chapter 1: Introduction
The aim of the present research work is to make a detailed evaluation of the importance and
the role played by talent management strategies to deal with the impact of the threat of the
COVID 19 virus. The present research report is based on making a detailed evaluation of the
issues that are created by the COVID 19 virus on the business operations of The Hoxton hotel.
The Hoxton hotel was founded in the year 2006; it was built on former car parking on great
eastern streets of London. It has opened many outlets in its series, such as in 2017 in Paris and in
2018 in Poland. This research report is based on making an evaluation of the way talent
management strategies could assist organisations in managing the impact of the COVID virus
impact.
Background to the study
The present situation of the COVID 19 virus has resulted in a requirement to formulate suitable
talent management strategies so that there can be an overcoming with the negative impact on
business operations and functions. Organisations across the globe are now experiencing an
unprecedented situation of workforce disruption. All organisations now have to determine the
way communities and workforce have to perform their functions at the same time they have to
maintain their revenue (Jackson, 2018). There have been difficulties in terms of paying salaries
and managing expense because of no revenue sources for such hospitality organisations. The
present research report is going to assist in a way to develop suitable measures for managing
talent in a more effective manner. For this, there arises a need to evaluate the role that effective
talent management strategy will play in helping the organisations to manage the workforce in
order to maximise the present level of performance.
Research Rationale
The main reason for selecting this topic is to analyse the role of training and development in the
process of dealing with the situation of the COVID 19 virus. This topic is of personal interest as
it is going to assist in developing the skills of employees for the purpose of having experiences to
face this changing dynamic situation of the external environment.
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The practical benefits of this study will be that it is going to benefit employees and society in a
way that employees will get the opportunity to further develop their skills and knowledge level.
On the other hand, society will be benefitted in terms of customers getting better services and
prevention from spreading the virus.
Research Scope
The research is focused on the hospitality industry, The Hoxton hotel. It was founded in the year
2006 and is located in Shoreditch, London. The target group of this study is the employees who
are working across different levels in the hotel. The themes are based on the use of both primary
and secondary sources of information in order to achieve the laid down objectives. There is an
analysis of the talent management strategies that are required to analyse its roles in overcoming
the threat of the COVID 19 virus.
!
Research aim
To evaluate the importance of talent management in The Hoxton, Shoreditch Hackney,
London, in order to analyse its role in overcoming the threat of COVID-19 within the
company.
Research objectives
The following objectives will be purposed to achieve the above:
i. To determine the impact and issues created by COVID-19 on business operations of The
Hoxton, Shoreditch Hackney, London.
ii. To review the role and talent management practices within The Hoxton hotel.
iii. To analysis the role that could be played by talent management in overcoming the threat
of COVID-19 within The Hoxton Hotel.
Research Questions,
 What possible impact and issues are there which are created and lead out by COVID-19
on business operations of The Hoxton, Shoreditch Hackney, London?
 What are the role and practices of talent management practices within The Hoxton hotel?
 What crucial role could be played by talent management in overcoming the threat of
COVID-19 within The Hoxton Hotel?
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Chapter Preview
The first chapter of the research report is based on the introduction of the research work. The
second chapter is related to the literature review that is developing a scenario on viewpoints of
various authors. The third chapter of the research report is describing the overall research
methodology that has been used in the course of the research. The fourth chapter is based on
analysis and findings from the collected primary and secondary sources of information. Finally,
the last chapter is drawing relevant recommendations and conclusions in the context of the
selected organisation. Presently there is the application of both secondary and primary sources of
methods in order to collect the required information. In primary sources, there is the use of a
questionnaire for the purpose of collecting the viewpoints of various respondents. In the second
method, there is the use of literature review to analyse the existing information from various
journal articles, available online sources in order to understand the scenario of talent
management in the COVID pandemic.
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Chapter 2: Literature review
The literature review is associated with collecting the necessary information from available
online articles, books and journals sources. The main objective of using literature review in the
present report is to identify the gaps and the relationship between the set aims and objectives.
Presently the literature review is used for the purpose of evaluating different talent management
strategies. It is going to assist the organisation in dealing with the impact of covid-19. There is
the use of existing information in order to analyse the effectiveness of talent management
strategies in relation to managing its overall impact on the organisation.
The impact and issues created by COVID-19 on business operations
As per Djeebet (2020), the present situation of covid 19 has lead to a major impact on the
functioning of business operations, especially in the context of hospitality organisations’. With
the travel bans, quarantine measures and border closures, there has been a reduction in overall
revenue for this sector. There has been a high amount of uncertainty & fear that has lead to
unprecedented travel restrictions. The United Nations world tourism organisation is expecting
that international tourist has decreased by 20 to 30 per cent in the year 2020 as compared to the
year 2019 (González-Torres, Rodríguez-Sánchez and Pelechano-Barahona, 2020). The
hospitality industry accounts for 10 per cent of the whole global GDP. The overall disruption in
production has also resulted in a large number of changes that are taking place in the supply
chain across different parts of the world. Apart from the challenges that are part of the tourism,
aviation and hospitality industry, there has been a significant decline the revenue. It has resulted
in job losses as organisations are not able to maintain their sources of revue that is leading
towards laying off people (What is the Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Hospitality Industry?
2020).
The role and talent management practices
As per the views of Simpson (2018), Talent management is a basic process that is used by
organisations and business for the purpose of managing the human resource component
organisations'. With the use of effective talent management strategies, organisations are working
towards developing a suitable workforce according to the structure of industry and business.
In relation to The Hoxton hotel, effective talent management strategies are used for the purpose
of managing employee development and well being (Smits, Staal and Van Goor, 2020). For this
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purpose, talent management is adopted for enhancing the culture level change that is required in
the organisation. It is also very necessary for contextualising approaches towards effective talent
management strategies. In the present situation of COVID 19, there has been a complete
transformation in the way now hospitality organisational perceives their functioning. Such as
there has been a high amount of legal laws and regulations that have to have adhered to in order
to ensure proper and timely compliance (Talent management in the hospitality industry, 2020).
The role that could be played by talent management in overcoming the threat of COVID-19
As per the views of Hancock (2020), after the pandemic has been in control to some extent and
the world is entering the post-pandemic era. There is a need to develop several talent
management strategies in the context of hospitality organisations that can help them in managing
the overall impact on the functioning of organisations. Such as in The Hoxton hotel, the human
resource department can work towards finding and hiring of right individuals for new roles that
are being formulated in the context of this situation. Such as there can be the requirement of
effective digital marketing strategies to formulate attractive digital marketing campaigns.
Another suitable strategy can be managing and rewarding employee performance (Disemadi and
Shaleh, 2020). In a crisis situation, employers can observe that there is low morale of some of the
employees because of no motivation level. In order to deal with this situation, there can be the
encouragement of effective performance management. There can also be tailoring of the
employee experience by establishing norms of work that can foster employee engagement and
inclusion at various levels. For this, effective collaboration techniques can also be used to
achieve excellent nature of performance on the part of employees. Such as learning the ways of
properly entraining customers, addressing their issues and implementing all the legal regulations
formed by the concerned authorities.
For this purpose, the human resource department of The Hoxton hotel is using
contextualising approaches where there has been the development of specific training and
development strategies. In this, there are some specific measures which are now being used to
train employees in modifying according to the organisation requirements. As of now, with social
distancing measures, the staffs are provided training on how to properly adhere to such practices.
Customers are offered a properly sanitised environment for which staff is directed to make the
customers believe about all the safety and security measures that are a prime concern for the
hotel workforce (Jung, Jung and Yoon, 2021). There has been the use of a strategic approach as
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