Overcoming Barriers in Implementing HRM Strategies at Marriott Hotel

Competitive advantages in the competitive environment (Deb, 2006)

Strategic Human Resource Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Critical analysis of internal and external environment for Marriott Hotel .....................................3
TASK 2 ................................................................................................................................................5
Development and critically evaluated a variety of human resources policies and procedures with
the help of concepts and models of SHRM for Marriott Hotel ......................................................5
TASK 3 ................................................................................................................................................8
Recommendations relating to the attraction and retention of talent to support future performance
of Marriott Hotel..............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Strategic human resource management (SHRM) denoted the different plans and intentions of
the organization to attain the business objectives with the help of personnel. This concept is based
on the three things: human resources, implementation of strategic planning and the approach to
meet the objectives of business. The following research has based on SHRM and for this Marriott
Hotel has taken into the consideration. Beside from offering a competitive packages, company has
given the good work life to its employees. Company is having its own HT department and for staff
benefits, it has developed many of HR practices and policies. The major HR practices of Marriott
Hotel are manpower planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, welfare
initiatives, employee retentions and grievance redress.
TASK 1
Critical analysis of internal and external environment for Marriott Hotel
SWOT and PESTLE analysis are the two methods to address the internal and external
environment analysis in the context of Marriott Hotel.
Internal environment: For analysing internal environment of Marriott Hotel, SWOT analysis has
used. With the help of this, it becomes easy to analyse the present strengths and weaknesses of hotel
in the light of opportunities and threats (Kasi, 2012).
Strengths: Marriott Hotel has very strong position in the market place because it has provided the
diversified services to the customers and run business operation at global level. The huge amount of
debt and having the strong financial position in the market, it made Marriott Hotel leading company
in hospitality industry. On the other hand, firm has greater staff retention ratio and in the present
time, the number of employees across the world are about to 150000 (Kasi, 2012).
Weaknesses: Marriott Hotel is having the weak management system because of large expansion of
business around the world. This thing define the pathetic performance of company. But Marriott
Hotel has faced the poor infrastructure in the area of information technology. The market position of
the company has lower down because the debt ratio is high which create the instability in the
market. The product portfolio of hotel has created the confusion in the mind of customers. The
result of this is Marriott Hotel has only 3.5% share of room revenues in UK in 2013. The major
competitors has beat the firm in the marketplace and increase their % share in terms of room
revenue (Aghazadeh, 2003). On the other hand, from the data of article of Skit.com has been found
that less people are visiting the Hotel brands Facebook page of Marriott as compare to the
Starwoods, Hilton and Hyatt. In this context, the Facebook visits market share of Marriott Hotel is
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15.6% which has less as compare to his current competitors in the UK market (Dhar, 2008).
Opportunities: There is a great opportunities for Marriott Hotel in the emerging market to expand
the business. By using the new technologies, hotel can easily improve the customer service and
provide the great accommodation and other supportive facilities to the guest. The employment
opportunities for the females are increase because Marriott Hotel has stated to given the priorities to
hire more female staff for providing the better services to the services users. Beside this, hotel has
promoted the GO GREEN theme during delivering the various services and business operations
(Adam, 2011).
Threats: From the research, it has found that during conducting business at international level,
Marriott Hotel has faced the different political challenges. Because of high fluctuation in pricing of
hospitality services has increased the intensity of competition in this sector. The major threat for the
hotel is no brand loyalty because in the present time, customers are choosing those hotels services
which are giving the services at lower cost with high quality (Adam, 2011).
External environment: Here, PESTLE analysis has used to assess the external environment of
Marriott Hotel which is as follows.
Political: The stable political situation and rising richness of population of UK has provided the
strong based to Marriott Hotel for achieve sustainable growth. The benefit of this is it has attracted
and influenced the investors to increase the investment in new projects of hotel. The stable taxes
have taken by government to provide the development opportunities to Marriott Hotel (Moke,
2015).
Economic: The fluctuation in currency exchange rate and impact of rescissions in UK economic
has still affected the operations of Marriott Hotel. It has reduced the spending power of people
which directly affect the sales of hotel. Beside this, the increase inequality in the incomes of middle
class people has also decreased the capability of travelling and staying in hotels (Moke, 2015).
Social: From the research, it has found that the number of visitors to travelling international has
increased by 13% between the era of 2013 to 2014. for getting the more experience, people are
willing to pay more for better services (Moke, 2015).
Technological: It has made the huge impact on the business of Marriott Hotel in terms of increased
sales. In this context, the hotel management has provided the online reservation system. Along with
this, to notify any suspicious activity within the premisses of hotel, management has put the CCTV
cameras and other things (Moke, 2015).
Legal: Marriott Hotel has run its business at international level and for this, the different rules
might be followed by firm. In this context, the various laws, regulations, health and safety rules etc
has to followed by organization to operate the business at international level (Moke, 2015).
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TASK 2
Development and critically evaluated a variety of human resources policies and procedures with the
help of concepts and models of SHRM for Marriott Hotel
Concepts and models of SHRM: Strategic human resource management can be understood in terms
of effective utilization of resource in well planned manner to attain organization objectives. This
strategy emphasizes on the making strong human relations with supporting business principal such
as profitability, ethics business reputation and promoting workplace healthy and safety. There are
many kinds of SHRM models available which helps in evaluation of HR policies and procedures
(Deb, 2006). Today’s most of the hospitality firms are using different types of SHRM models which
include Harvard, Guest model, best practice model, Patterson model of HRM, human resource
strategy, HR information systems and performance management on the basis of their requirements
(Rasel, 2015).
In the context of formulating corporate strategy as well as business strategy among the
government regulations, internal and external environment SHRM could be used by firm (Rasel,
2015). Marriott hotel employed performance management and Harvard models in terms of
increasing skills, efficiency and understand changing attitudes of its employees towards work. In
order to generate strategic capability and attain competitive advantage, hospitality enterprise use
SHRM models in framing HR strategies (Kumar, 2010). By considering this model, line manager of
Marriott framed competitive strategy and personal policies to solve their personal issues and
enhance their motivation level. Despite of that, Harvard model also helps enterprise in the context
of setting human resources policies and monitoring over personal activities of an individual at
workplace.
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Figure 1: Harvard model
(Source: Shabnam,n.d.)
Marriott considered its employees as significant stakeholders who have their own needs and
concerns. Besides that, this model also helps company in framing HR policies in four major key
areas that can be enlisted as follow.
 Employee influence: In this policy, managers of enterprise delegates level of authority,
responsibility and power to their subordinates to encourage them to give their best (Rasel,
2015).
 Human resource flows: For improving HR policies regarding recruitment, selection,
promotion and termination, this policy of SHRM can be beneficial for hospitality enterprise.
 Reward systems: In the context of improving pay system and enhancing motivation level of
individual at workplace, this model is employed by organization (Sheehan, 2005).
 Work systems: For the purpose of making human resource policies regarding alignment of
work and performing four ‘C’ functions which include commitment, congruence,
competence and cost effectiveness, this model is used.
There are various HR policies of Marriott Hotel which help the firm to address some
general human resource issues. Some HR policies and practices are as follows.
Equal employment opportunity policy: Under the following policy, Hotel management has
provided the equal opportunities to all the employees at the workplace. Along with this, the firm has
provided a good working environment to the staff which has free from the harassment and
discrimination. The employment decisions of Marriott Hotel are based on the needs of the business,
job requirements and qualification of applicants without considering colour, age, sex, religion,
culture etc (Jackson, 2008).
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Employee classifications policy: Under this policy, the hotel management has categorized the
employment status into the three section such as full time, part time and temporary. According to
this, the management of Marriott Hotel has divided its employees into the different categorises as
per their type of employment.
Benefits policy: As per the following policy, the HR of Marriott Hotel has provided the various
kinds of benefits to the employees such as Accident Insurance, Hospitalization, Employees safety,
Meditation Rooms, etc (Rasel, 2015).
Talent management policy: In this policy, the HR department of Marriott Hotel has developed
some talent management policies for the existing employees. These frameworks are Talent reviews
and engagement, Development assessment centres (DAC's) and Individual Development Plans
(IDP) (Armstrong, 2008).
The overall impact of implementation of SHRM concepts and models can be seen in terms
of cost of implementing human resource policies at individual, organizational and societal level
(Rasel, 2015). After understanding the SHRM models and their benefits, it can be said that Harvard
model which was adopted by management of Marriott can play an important role in deploying
different policies and procedures which include employee involvement, recruitment and selection
and alignment of work on the basis of an individual skills and knowledge within enterprise
(Jackson, 2008). On the basis of model characteristics and strategies used by human resource
department of organization, it is clear that there is a huge difference between actual and expected
outcome that will occur after implementing this model at workplace.
Marriott hotel could be improved Harvard model and implement it’s in a proper manner to
evaluate the policies and procedures used by enterprise at workplace. Furthermore, by deploying
this model, firm would be able to promote mutual reward and responsibility so that motivation level
of employees will be enhanced and they will consider themselves as an important asset of
organization. Besides that, this model will also help Marriot to investigate that policy and
procedures are adequate, or need some improvement (Armstrong, 2008). However, along with
several advantages of this model some limitations such as casual chain suggested by this model is
unclear and framework does not explain how four policy areas are influences stakeholders and
environmental etc (Rasel, 2015).
TASK 3
Recommendations relating to the attraction and retention of talent to support future performance of
Marriott Hotel
Different concepts and theories of retain and attracting talents:
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For supporting future performance of Marriott Hotel, it is important for the hotel
management to attract and retain talents within the firm. The tactics which can be used for retain
and attract the talent are as follows.
Performance management: It is most common and popular method of attracting and retain talent
within the organization (Armstrong, 2008). With then help of this, the employees of Marriott Hotel
can drive their own performance as well as manage career development according to the business
strategy of company. Under this method, the staff members of hotel can maintain the continuous
conversation with the managers on development areas which ensure their growth in the future. In
the context of Marriott Hotel, for attracting and retain the employees, the management can take the
help of different types of motivation strategies, coaching etc (Deb, 2006). The reason is it will
assure the employee performance and increase the engagement within the work.
Employee mobility: The attraction and retention of employees within the firm for the long time has
provided the opportunities to the company of growths and taking the competitive advantages (Dhar,
2008). In the case of Marriott Hotel, to get the opportunities of growth in hospitality industry, it is
essential to build and retain the talents (Hernandez, 2009). For this, hotel can provide the internal
job opportunities to the employees which can change the roles and designation of the staff members
with the time. It highlights key competencies and other skills which are helpful for Marriott Hotel to
new projects.
Remuneration: Under this tactics, the company has provided the fairly wages to all employees by
avoiding any kind of discrimination (Kumar, 2010). Marriott Hotel has offered the attractive
packages to its staff as well as good working conditions. Along with this, to retain the talent within
the organization, hotel management has provide the different types of remunerations. The example
of remunerations methods are incentive plans, rewards, extra benefits etc (Perkins and Shortland,
2006).
Succession planning: This strategy enables the organization to take the review about the present
talent in the employees. With the help of this, the management can easily identified the gaps in the
performance and skills lacking areas (Aghazadeh, 2003). In the context of Marriott Hotel, a plan has
prepared for the staff members by the top management. Under this strategy, the higher authority has
analysed the gap in the performance level of the employees. It has compared with the set
performance level and according to it, the new training plan will be developed. Beside this, the
following plan has more useful in finding the talents and retain them in Marriott Hotel for long time
(Druker, 2003).
Applicability of different concepts of talents attraction and retain with justification:
The all above stated methods, concepts, strategies or theories are applicable for the
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workplace of Marriott Hotel (Huang, 2001). The reason is it helps in explore the different kinds of
talents in the employees which has fruitful for the hotel. Along with this, these concepts assist the
management to retain the staff within the firm for long time. The experience and talented workers
has help management of Marriott Hotel to take the competitive advantages of market as well as new
project (Inkson, 2008).
Recommendation/ resourcing strategies to retain and attract talent in Marriott Hotel:
Here some recommendations are stating which help in attracting and retain the employees
with in the firm for the long time. These suggestions may be called resourcing strategies by which
Marriott Hotel can attract and retain talent in the organization which are as follows.
Understand company existing cultural: To attracting and retaining the talents within the firm, it is
important for Marriott Hotel to firstly analyse present culture of company. The question which can
be raised during analysis are is organization culture accept the cultural differences?, what and how
does the present employees feeling during working here? Etc (Kelly, 2001). If such type of question
gives the positive and in the favour of organization then Marriott Hotel will easily attract and retain
talents in the firm for long time.
Meaningful work: For attracting and retain talent in the company, its firm responsibilities to
provide them meaningful work to the employees. It increase the coordination between the
management and workers during the work (Underwood, 2000). Both are understanding each other
and work together as a team. In the case of Marriott Hotel, if the management gives the recognition
to the work of employee then they staff will feel that their work has important for the company. By
increase the participation and encourage the employees, it becomes easy for Marriott Hotel to
attract and retain talents (Mattacks, 2004).
Creating flexible working environment: It is more important and essential aspects for attracting
and retaining talents. By giving the flexibility in the working hours and provide the good working
environment, Marriott Hotel can attract and retain the talented employees for long time (Vallaster,
2005). The reason is if the firm has given some flexibility of selection of working hours then it will
developing a positive sense in the employees towards the company. This will be very fruitful for
Marriott Hotel and increase the retention of staff with the time (Armstrong, 2008).
Streamline hiring process: By streamline the hiring process for all types of employees, Marriott
Hotel can easily hire the talented employee's and retain them in the organization for long time. With
the help of this process, the firm will able to take significant competitive advantages in the
competitive environment (Deb, 2006).
Problems during implementation of recommendations in Marriott Hotel
From the analysis, it has found that the above stated recommendations will work at the
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workplace of Marriott Hotel. But there are some problems may be faced by the organization
regarding the implementation of these suggestions. These issues are as follows (Dhar, 2008).
Cultural differences: In Marriott Hotel, there are diversified employees working in the company
which are belongs to the different cultural. The different types of culture of staff members have
affected the values and beliefs of individual one. The result of this is it will create a conflicts
between the employees which will directly impact the performance of the firm in negative manner.
Therefore, during implementation of the suggestions, the cultural differences may be creating the
barriers for the management (Hernandez, 2009).
Different working practices: All the employees are having the different working practices. The
many working practices of the staff members have developed a problem while working or
implementing a new strategy. Due to this, the workers will prefer their comfort zone and perform
the tasks according as per their working habits. It will directly made the impact on the performance
of the team and decrease the quality of services. So it is difficult for Marriott Hotel to considered
the diversified working practices and implementation the recommendations according to it (Kumar,
2010).
Legal barriers: Marriott Hotel has run its operation in different nations and every country is having
the different laws and regulations. Every nation has its own legal rules and regulations for every
kind of industry. Due to this, Marriott Hotel has required to follow all the rules and regulations of
the country while operating the business operations in the right and successful manner. There may
be a possibility that some suggestions may not be implemented due to the legal barriers (Perkins
and Shortland, 2006).
CONCLUSION
From the above research, it can be concluded that strategic human resources management is
an important element of every organization. Marriott Hotel has operated its business in different
nations where it has followed the diversified rules and regulations. In this aspect, internal and
external environment helped in assess the performance and market position of the firm. For this,
SWOT and PESTLE analysis method has used for assessment of internal and external environment
of Marriott Hotel. Beside this, there are various types of SHRM concepts and models which assist
in evaluating the different HRM policies and procedures of Marriott Hotel in more effective
manner. With the help of various types of concepts and theories, hotel management has attracted
and retain the talent within the organization for long time. By following the stated suggestions,
management has implemented them in the different branches of hotel. But still there are some
barriers which affect the implementation of suggestions. It such case, it is important to over come
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the barriers in more effective manner so that the new talent can attract and retain for the long time
in the organization.
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REFERENCES
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Druker, 2003. Strategy and Human Resource Management. Management Decision. 41(5). pp.523 –
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Hernandez, 2009. Strategic Human Resources Management in Health Services Organizations.
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Sheehan, C., 2005. A model for HRM strategic integration. Personnel Review. 34 (2).PP.192 – 209.
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