The Role of Strategic HRM in Competitive Advantage: Hotel Chains

This research proposal investigates the role of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in developing a sustainable competitive advantage within contemporary budget hotel chains, focusing on Holiday Inn Express. It begins with a literature review, defining SHRM as the alignment of human resources with organizational objectives and sustainable competitive advantage as difficult-to-duplicate assets and abilities. The study aims to understand SHRM's role in recruitment, development, and employee retention, and how it contributes to organizational productivity and profitability. It also evaluates strategies used by Holiday Inn Express, such as market analysis, value proposition establishment, and employee training, to gain a competitive edge. The research acknowledges challenges faced by the hotel in budget management, including lack of savings, poor budget execution, and unrealistic budget preparation. The rationale emphasizes the importance of HRM in reducing employee turnover and increasing job satisfaction. Utilizing a deductive approach, the research employs literature review and surveys with quantitative methods to collect and analyze data, addressing research questions about the conceptual framework of SHRM, its role in competitive advantage, effective strategies, and budgetary challenges faced by Holiday Inn Express.

Research proposal
(Role of strategic human resource management in
developing sustainable competitive advantage in
contemporary budget hotel chains)
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Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................3
Preliminary literature review .........................................................................................................3
To develop basic understanding regarding the strategic human resource management and
sustainable competitive advantage..............................................................................................3
To determine the role of strategic human resource management in developing sustainable
competitive advantage in Holiday Inn Express...........................................................................4
To evaluate the ways that would be used by Holiday Inn Express in developing sustainable
competitive advantage.................................................................................................................4
To analysis the challenges faced by Holiday Inn Express in management of their budget........5
Rationale for research......................................................................................................................5
Tentative aim, objectives and research questions ...........................................................................6
Research aim:..............................................................................................................................6
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................6
Research questions:.....................................................................................................................6
Potential methodology and methods ...............................................................................................7
Considered ethics, limitations and contributions ............................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
Books and journals......................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
In a current era, sustainable competitive advantage is the major factor which can impact
the business environment and its operations. Sustainable competitive advantage is no longer a
deep rooted within an organisation physical resources but in the company non physical human
resources. So, the study believes that it becomes more significant in the business world where
individual is very effective and efficient in developing their innovation products and services. On
the next hand, strategic human resource management, behavioural approach is mostly used
(Meramveliotakis, and Manioudis, 2021). It identifies a different role which is more significant
to the kind of strategy that is pursued by company. It is said that strategic human resource
management is impacting the organisation in organisation in most effective manner and it
resulting in creating competitive advantage in a market. Further, the hotel selected within this
report is Holiday inn express. It is a mid priced hotel chain in Intercontinental hotel group family
of brand. It provides offering limited services at a very reasonable price.
Preliminary literature review
To develop basic understanding regarding the strategic human resource management and
sustainable competitive advantage
According to Tien, Diem, and Van Dat, (2021) Strategic human resource management is
refers to the connection in between organisation human resource and their objectives, strategies
and the goals. The main purpose of strategic human resource management is to provide
flexibility in business environment, creates innovations, gaining competitive advantage etc. on
the next hand sustainable competitive advantage is refers to the organisation assets, abilities and
the attributes and it is difficult to duplicate or exceed which provides a superior or the favourable
long term position over the competitors. The main aim of strategic human resource management
is to empower the people and their workplaces by advancing their practises in maximising their
employees potential. There is a direct connection between strategic human resource management
and sustainable competitive advantage of the company. This will helps in working well and
developing their cations accordingly (Gürlek, and Koseoglu, 2021). It helps in generating
competitive advantage among competitors and retain employees for long time and providing
them better flexible working environment.
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To determine the role of strategic human resource management in developing sustainable
competitive advantage in Holiday Inn Express
From the views of Chan, Gao, and McGinley, (2021) Strategic human resource
management is having different purposes by depending on the particular business. It is the aim to
be a successful within a market by performing better recruitment, development and retaining of
the employees. The SHRM is playing important role within development of sustainable
competitive advantage. This is through understanding of the organisational strategy and their
current objectives- as it is the role of senior management team is not only to define the goals and
objectives of the business but to communicate it with the whole business. If goals are define with
the employees them employees will work more effectively and it develop organisational
productivity and profitability. On the other hand, the next role of forecast the future HR
requirements- it is to forecast on the supply and demands of the products which company selling.
In relation with the Holiday inn express, there managers are focusing on fulling employees needs
and demands and they involve them in decision making process. Also, they develops
productivity of employees by motivating them through certain motivation strategies like
providing rewards and recognition, performance management, job satisfaction etc. this resulting
in enhancing employees efficiency and gaining competitive edge in market in front of
competitors (Ali, Gardi, and Anwar, 2021). These will helps in development of the employees
and if employee are working hard, then organisational efficiency will be increasing and it will be
resulting enhancing profitability and developing in the market as well in front of competitors.
To evaluate the ways that would be used by Holiday Inn Express in developing sustainable
competitive advantage
As per the views of Ngoc, and Tien, (2021) Some of the strategies are being used in the
holiday in express hotel for increasing their sustainable competitive advantage is to analyse the
market and its segments. As many of the organisation firsts analyse the existing customer base
and they develops more effectively. This will helps them in understanding customer taste and
preferences and their requirements. So, in relation with the holiday inn express hotel, there
managers are focusing on analysing rte market firsts and them do segments according to the
needs and taste of customers. During the time of global pandemic, hotel has taken all the safety
measures regarding customers and this results in attracting more of the customers towards their
brand. Further, establishment of value proposition is done in order to grab their attention- this
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will be helpful in understanding of the guest requirement and making changes accordingly. The
other way through which hotel is developing the competitive advantage is different products
with having different attributes- hotel is working towards providing different types of dishes and
products which could enhance customers and which could attract them as well (Oriade, Osinaike,
and Wang, 2021). Also, company is providing proper training and development sessions in order
to develop employees efficiency. These all helps the hotel in gaining competitive advantage
among competitors.
To analysis the challenges faced by Holiday Inn Express in management of their budget
From Youngblood, Nutta, and Nutta, (2021) There are certain challenges which is being
faced by Holiday inn express in their management of budget. The hotel is facing some of the
issues like not budgeting for the savings- as they did not save money for future. So, they could
not able to make strategies for future in order to enhance employees motivation. Further, they are
having poor budget executive, so that is why after the global pandemic, they could be able to
save their budget effectively and result in facing loss by them. The other issue which can be
faced is unrealistic budget preparation because in this managers are the one who is making
budget for all the activities performed with the business environment. So if any of the activities
meeds more amount, then the activities should have to suffers and this resulting in reducing
profitability of the hotel. The chosen hotel is also facing some other problem related to the
budget is anticipated negative events- there are some other issues which can comes accidental
and this takes all the saving of the hotels in order to overcome from that problem. So this can
becomes a challenges which is developing organisational activities and the task performed in
their business environment. Also, this takes more time in order to manage a budget financial
resources by the managers of hotels (Gao, Wang, and Wang, 2021). These issue should be
considered in mind and some strategies are to be made for overcome from this situation.
Rationale for research
The rationale of conducting this research on a specific topic is that human resources is
most essential part of any of the company. It is mostly used in the hotel and develop their
sustainable competitive advantage. Further, many of the organisational are now a days working
towards enhancing employees towards their brand and gaining competitive advantage. Human
resources management in relation with the hotel chains is promoting certain benefits like lower
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employee turnover, increasing job satisfaction etc. this will be helpful in development of the
organisational goals and objectives in the market. Further, they are developing more and it
develops competitive edge among competitors. This report is based on the hotel Holiday inn
express which is effectively having its human resource management and this will be helpful in
attracting candidates towards their brand and also the customer as well (Khan, Ponce, and Shah,
2021). In addition, this research is helpful in enhancing research some of the skills like research
skills, communication skills and decision making skills etc. these skills will be helps in near
future.
Tentative aim, objectives and research questions
Research aim:
“To identify the impact of human resource management in developing sustainable competitive
advantage within contemporary budget hotel chains”: A study on Holiday Inn Express.
Research Objectives
 To develop basic understanding regarding the strategic human resource management and
sustainable competitive advantage
 To determine the role of strategic human resource management in developing sustainable
competitive advantage in Holiday Inn Express
 To evaluate the ways that would be used by Holiday Inn Express in developing
sustainable competitive advantage
 To analysis the challenges faced by Holiday Inn Express in management of their budget
Research questions:
 What is the conceptual framework of the strategic human resource management and
sustainable competitive advantage?
 What is the role of strategic human resource management in developing sustainable
competitive advantage in Holiday Inn Express?
 What are the effective ways that could be used by Holiday Inn Express in developing
sustainable competitive advantage?
 What are the biggest challenges that are faced by Holiday Inn Express in management of
their budget?
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Potential methodology and methods
Research approaches : Research approach consisting of two types of approaches. These
are inductive and deductive approach because this helps in analysing and evaluating of the data
and information in most effective manner. Within this research, research is using deductive
approach of research because this will helps in collecting data through quantitative method and it
results in getting numerical data and information. This will brings valid information as well and
attain research aim and objectives also.
Research strategy : Research strategies are of various types which assist in enhancing
and gathering the informational and data. Further, this helps in gaining true and valid
information. These strategies includes action research, experimental research, survey, literature
review and case study etc. these strategies helps in giving research aim and objectives. Within
this study, researcher is using literature review and survey (Tajvidi, and Karami, 2021).
Literature review is presented by analysing books and published articles of different authors and
it will bring in depth knowledge about a particular topic. On the next hand, survey is collected
through questionnaire which includes close ended questions and which helps in making true
interpretations of a given study. It will makes use of graphs, charts and tables and develops
reliable information.
Research method : Research method is the one which helped in collecting data and
information in most effective manner. Further, it will be resulting in achieving research aim and
objectives. It includes two types of method quantitative and qualitative method. Quantitative
method is the one which helps in collecting numerical data and information by using survey or
getting reliable information. On the next hand, qualitative method includes non numeric
information which is collected through interview and it helps in gaining theoretical information.
In order to conduct this research, researcher is using quantitative method because this helps in
getting practical and numerical data and findings. It also collected through questionnaire survey
and which includes close ended questionable and uses graphs to gather data (Wendri,
Alistyawati, and Sudarmini, 2021). It will bring reliable and valid information.
Data collection method : Data is collected through primary and secondary both the
methods. Primary method is used for getting numerical and quantitative information which used
survey and observations in order to collect data and information about a specific topic. On the
next hand, secondary data is used for collection non numeric which brings reliable and valid
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information. Further it is a already published data which is collected through analysing books
and articles. Within this research, researcher is using both of these method. As primary data is
collected through questionnaire survey which includes close ended questions and make use of
graphs and charts. In addition, secondary data is collected through analysing different published
data and articles and brings. It is presented in a form of literature review in a systematic manner.
It is also seen that primary data brings more reliable and valid data as compared to secondary
data collection method. However, secondary data is less costly and less time consuming as
compared to primary data collection method.
Sampling : Sampling is a method of selecting some of the samples from large number of
set of population. The sample size selected within this report is 40 respondents who are the
employees of Holiday inn Express (Saqib, and Satar, 2021). This consist of two methods of
sampling probabilistic and non probabilistic method. Within this research probabilistic sampling
is used and in this random sampling is used to select a sample because it provides equal
opportunity to be be selected within a sample. Also, in this these respondents are provided a
questionnaire and this is to be filled by them in order to true interpretations.
Considered ethics, limitations and contributions
Research ethics : Some of the ethical issues which is to be followed by researcher is to
maintain confidentiality among respondents answers which is given by them. Further, researcher
should have to take all the respondents consent while sharing of the information in front of
audience. They should have to work effectively and take out true and reliable information about
a research topic. Also, they have to follow other ethics like to not to disclose the information in
front of any third party. These ethics should be followed by researcher in order to get true and
valid information.
Limitation : Some of the limitation of this present research is that there is a lack of
financial resources, lack of time management and lack of getting true and valid information.
Thus, these issues should be faced by researcher. For solving this, researcher has used Gantt
chart and secondary data collection is used to conduct this research and gather data and
information (Tiawon, and Supartha, 2021). Further, this Gantt chart will helps in completing
research on a given time period. This will developing true and reliable informational and also
secondary data is conducted within less cost as compared to the primary data collection method.
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References
Books and journals
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Anwar, G.(2021). The Role of Shopping Malls on Kurdistan Regional Government’s
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