The Application of Talent Management in the Service Industry

This research project explores the application of talent management in the service industry, specifically focusing on Sheraton Hotel. It discusses the strategies and benefits of talent management in enhancing competitive workplace and productivity. The research aims to identify the implications of talent management on business success.

RESEARCH PROJECT

TITLE: The application of Talent Management in the service industry as a strategic
approach on productivity and enhancing business/organisation success.
INTRODUCTION
Talent management is a cohesive approach developed primarily to help firms to make
better use of human capital and use human capital to help meet the company's vision. This
consists using the qualitative and quantitative tools to make improvement in ROI improving the
succession planning (Alferaih, Sarwar and Eid, 2018). Sheraton Hotel is international hotel chain
that mainly owned through Marriott international. It operates 441 hotels with 155,617 rooms
globally. In this report going to discuss about the tools and techniques which will used in data
collection and analysis in research methodology part.
TASK 1
P1 Research proposal that clearly defines research questions
Background
Talent management is a method of finding, developing and educating those employees
whose skills match best with an organization's goals and requirements. Talent management's
main goal is to hire better staff members that company can afford to allow an enterprise to
achieve its productive potential. Sheraton Hotel appoint the talented and the well experienced
employees which can perform the organisational activities and also give the better experience to
customers. Through talent management, organisation can determine as well as develop the
talented people which can have positive impact on company (Bharwani and Talib, 2017).
Rationale
Main reason for choosing this research topic is to know about the talent management and
its strategies to increasing the competitive workplace in an effective manner. Conducting
research helps in give direction to learner for getting the positive outcomes and also assist in
gaining the better information so that it can able to conduct any investigation in future.
Research Aim
“To identify the strategies of talent management and its implications on enhancing
competitive workplace.” A study on Sheraton Hotel.
Research Objectives
 To explore strategies of talent management in context of hospitality organisation.

 To identify ways Sheraton Hotel used for implementing an effective talent management
strategies.
 To determine the benefits of talent management in enhancing competitive working
environment of Sheraton Hotel.
Research Questions
 What are the different strategies related to talent management in relation to hospitality
organisation?
 What different ways used by Sheraton Hotel to executing the talent management
strategies?
 What advantages Sheraton Hotel can get from talent management in increasing the
competitive working environment?
LITERAURE REVIEW
Different strategies to talent management in relation to hospitality organisation
According to Erik van Vulpen (2019) Talent management is defined as full scope of
processes related to attract, develop and sustain the high performance staff at workplace. Talent
management strategy is an action plan to be optimise performance level of staff members. Under
this, there are various strategies of talent management in hospitality company given below:
Understand job descriptions power- This strategy develops the impact on success of an
organisation. In hospitality sector, concise job description outline about the expectations from
candidates. In the job description, it is necessary to include job title, skills, overall duties,
benefits and salary etc.
Provide training and development opportunities- Training is related to developing
potential of staff members. The organisation will loose talented staff members in many cases if
they are bored at workplace. Hospitality company hold the regular meetings with staff members
to explain about the improvement areas (Bratton, 2018).
Different ways used by Sheraton Hotel to executing the talent management strategies
As per opinion of Erin Engstrom (2020)Talent management strategy maps out priorities
and objectives. Under this, Sheraton Hotel implement talent strategies at workplace by following
different steps which given below:

Step 1: Determine organizational priorities- Under this, there is a need to determine
the goals of company which need to attain through staff members. It is necessary to define the
goals and the time period to be attain (Nzonzo and Chipfuva, 2013).
Step 2: Determine organizational drivers and challenges- Determine and include key
drivers which impact on ability of Sheraton Hotel to attain objectives. These could consist things
more competitive job market and results from employee satisfaction etc.
Step 3: Conduct a gap analysis- Firm where company is with where this wants to be
and determine gaps that this requires to address to attain objectives. In determining each gap,
include risk for addressing gap.
Step 4: Explain HR priorities and goals- According to objectives and challenges, HR
objectives requirement to be identified to support company in attaining objectives. There is a
requirement to determine objectives.
Step 5: Inventory talent management functions- In this step, there is a need to do
inventory of current processes of HR talent management to identify if Sheraton Hotel require to
make any kind of changes to the existing process ( Burke and Hughes, 2018).
Step 6: Measure outcomes and communicate successes- This is necessary to evaluate
and analyse effectiveness as well as communicate organisational outcomes. It is necessary to
identify if objectives was effective and also worth sustaining.
Advantages Sheraton Hotel can get from talent management in increasing the competitive
working environment
As per viewpoint of Emon Dastidar (2020), Talent management is source of enhancing
competitive working environment at workplace. This consists all the organisational activities in
Sheraton Hotel for attracting, choosing, developing and also sustaining better staff members in
strategic roles. There are some benefits of talent management given below in maximising
competitive working environment in Sheraton Hotel:
Hiring Right Fit- With talent management, HR can plan recruitment process in
alignment of manpower requirements of company. They can be anticipate talent requirement
well and also get sample time to recruit right fit.
Retaining Talent- In Sheraton Hotel, this is complex to sustain the staff members for top
performers. They quit company for the greener pastures but the talent management helps in

enable HR to be hold back staff members by retention programs and engagement. HR of
Sheraton Hotel take initiatives that foster growth of employee (Gibson and Parkman, 2018).
P2 Research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research
Research methods are helpful in assembling the appropriate data for specific topic, it is
main part of the research methodology that help an investigator in accumulation of the authentic
information related to present research in competitive world. Suitable research methods are
mention below:
Type of Investigation- Qualitative and Quantitative are different kinds of investigation
methods. In conducting the present investigation, quantitative method has been used because this
gives in- depth information concerned with particular research.
Research philosophy- There are two different kinds of the research philosophies like
interpretivism and positivism. Under present investigation, positivism philosophy has been used
because this shows more content and provides the positive knowledge (Law and et. al., 2015).
Research Approach- Inductive and deductive are two different kinds of research
approaches. During conducting an investigation, deductive approach has been used because it
gives the logical outcomes by providing specific information.
Data collection- There are primary and secondary two different data collection methods.
In this, an investigator has been used the primary data collection method. In this, questionnaire
has been developed by consisting different questions (Vasquez, 2014).
Sampling- In context to primary research sampling, probabilistic sampling method has
been used and also select the 30 respondents. The main reason behind using this sampling
method is that it gives equal chance to the chosen people and know about their opinions
regarding the specific subject area (Murray, 2017).
TASK 2
P3 Primary and secondary research using methods for research
For conducting secondary and primary research, there are different methods require to
adopted through an investigator. Through using these methods data has been collected and
analysed in an effective manner. Some factors included in conducting primary and secondary
research mention below:

Costs- It is necessary factor while collecting data from secondary and primary sources.
Cost for conduct an investigation is related with primary method as in survey require to be done.
This consists all incremental expenses which are the material to an investigation.
Access- It refers to use of data as well as access to sources to place from where
information and data has collected. Aspect need to consider is that researcher should have access
to collect data effectively (Sirkova, Taha and Ferencova, 2016).
Ethical issues- There are different ethical problem require to be taken in to the
considerations which can impact on research. Components which mainly considered while
making research are consent, honesty, integrity and confidentiality. Researcher should keep the
information of respondents confidential and also collect data by using authentic sources
effectively.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Q1) Do you have understanding about talent management strategies?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) Does talent management impact on the organisational performance?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3) What are the advantages of talent management in Sheraton Hotel?
a) Hiring Right Fit
b) Smoother Onboarding Process
c) Retaining Talent
Q4) Does talent management is an effective strategy to getting competitive advantages?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5) What are the various strategies of talent management used by Sheraton Hotel for
making the better workplace environment competitive?
a) Detailed job descriptions

b) Person- organisation fit
c) Reward and recognize right
Q6) What is role of HR manager in Sheraton Hotels in relation to talent management?
a) Hiring right people
b) Develop strong management policies
c) Design integrated underlying systems
Q7) What kind of issues faced by HR related to talent management in Sheraton Hotel?
a) Higher total compensation demands
b) Unappealing company culture.
c) Lack of leadership
Q8) What are various ways HR adopt to getover from arisen issues concerned with talent
management at workplace?
a) Put strategic organizational change
b) Devise training program
c) Establish reward system
Q9) Suggest ways through which hotel can sustain employee at workplace and gain
competitive advantages.
P4 Analytical tools to analyse research findings

DATA SHEET
Q1) Do you have understanding about talent management
strategies?
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 5
Q2) Does talent management impact on the organisational
performance?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 10
Q3) What are advantages of talent management in Sheraton Hotel? Frequency
a) Hiring Right Fit 10
b) Smoother On boarding Process 10
c) Retaining Talent 10
Q4) Does talent management is an effective strategy to getting
competitive advantages?
Frequency
a) Yes 18
b) No 12
Q5) What are the contrary strategies of talent management used by
Sheraton Hotel for making the better workplace environment
competitive?
Frequency
a) Detailed job descriptions 10
b) Person- organisation fit 11
c) Reward and recognize right 9
Q6) What is role of HR manager in Sheraton Hotels in relation to
talent management?
Frequency
a) Hiring right people 10

b) Developing strong management policies 10
c) Designing integrated underlying systems 10
Q7) What kind of issues faced by HR related to talent management
in Sheraton Hotel?
Frequency
a) Higher total compensation demands 15
b) Unappealing company culture. 12
c) Lack of leadership 3
Q8) What are various ways HR adopt to getover from arisen issues
concerned with talent management at workplace?
Frequency
a) Put strategic organizational change 10
b) Devise training program 10
c) Establish reward system 10
THEME 1: Understanding about the talent management strategies
Q1) Do you have understanding about the talent management
strategies?
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 5

Interpretation: As per opinion of 25 respondents that they have understanding regarding
strategies of talent management. Other than this, 5 respondents are disagree.
THEME 2: Talent management impact on the organisational performance
Q2) Does talent management impact on the organisational
performance?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 10
a) Yes b) No
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
5
Column C

Interpretation: 20 respondents said that talent management impact on performance level of
company as to hire well talented and qualified employees. 10 remaining respondents are disgaree
with given statement.
THEME 3: Advantages of talent management
Q3) What are advantages of talent management in Sheraton Hotel? Frequency
a) Hiring Right Fit 10
b) Smoother On boarding Process 10
c) Retaining Talent 10
a) Yes b) No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
20
10
Column B

Interpretation: Talent management provides the benefits to Sheraton Hotel in different ways.
10 respondents are agree with hiring the right fit employees. There are 10 respondents which said
that on boarding process is main benefits to company from talent management. According to 10
respondents that sustaining the employees at workplace for long time period is necessary.
THEME 4: Talent management strategy to getting competitive advantages
Q4) Does talent management is an effective strategy to getting
competitive benefits?
Frequency
a) Yes 18
b) No 12
a) Hiring Right Fit
b) Smoother On boarding Process
c) Retaining Talent
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 10 10
Column B

Interpretation: Talent management strategy helps in hiring and sustaining the employees for
long time period to getting competitive benefits. As per opinion of 18 respondents that talent
management strategy is helpful for Sheraton Hotel to gain the competitive benefits. 12 remaining
respondents are disagree.
THEME 5: Talent management strategies for making the better workplace environment
competitive
Q5) What are the different strategies of talent management used by
Sheraton Hotel for making the better workplace environment
competitive?
Frequency
a) Detailed job descriptions 10
b) Person- organisation fit 11
c) Reward and recognize 9
a) Yes b) No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
18
12
Column B

Interpretation: Sheraton Hotel use various strategies related to talent management for making
workplace environment better. According to 10 respondents that developing the job description
in detailed manner helps in developing business environment competitive. 11 respondents are
agree with the person- organisation fit. There are 9 respondents and according to them company
should give the reward to employees so that they can be motivated.
THEME 6: HR manager role in relation to talent management
Q6) What is role of HR manager in Sheraton Hotels in relation to
talent management?
Frequency
a) Hiring right people 10
b) Developing strong management policies 10
c) Designing integrated underlying systems 10
a) Detailed job descriptions
b) Person- organisation fit
c) Reward and recognize
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
10
11
9
Column B

Interpretation: In an organisation, HR plays an important role and focus on attaining the
specific objectives within given time period. There are 10 respondents and as per their opinion
that HR focus on hiring right person so that it can able to perform in better way. 10 respondents
are agree with developing management policies. According to 10 respondents that HR works on
Designing integrated underlying systems.
THEME 7: Issues faced by HR related to talent management
Q7) What kind of issues faced by HR related to talent management
in Sheraton Hotel?
Frequency
a) Higher total compensation demands 15
b) Unappealing company culture 12
c) Lack of leadership 3
a) Hiring right people
b) Developing strong management policies
c) Designing integrated underlying systems
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 10 10
Column B

Interpretation: According to 15 respondents that high compensation demands is faced by the
Sheraton Hotel. There are 12 respondents and as per their opinion that culture of an organisation
is unappealing and this negatively impact on talent management. 3 respondents are disagree with
lack of leadership.
THEME 8: Ways HR adopt to getover from arisen issues
Q8) What are various ways HR adopt to getover from arisen issues
concerned with talent management at workplace?
Frequency
a) Put strategic organizational change 10
b) Devise training program 10
c) Establish reward system 10
a) Higher total compensation demands
b) Unappealing company culture
c) Lack of leadership
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16 15
12
3
Column B

Interpretation: To overcome from the arisen issue, there are some effective ways adopted
through HR manager of Sheraton Hotel. There are 10 respondents which said that HR can Put
the strategic organizational change. 10 respondents are agree with conducting the training
program for enhance skills of employees at workplace. According to 10 respondents that HR
manager should establish the rewards system that can motivate employees in Sheraton Hotel.
TASK 3
P5 Research outcomes
Present research is undertaken on the basis of strategies of talent management and its
impacts on enhancing organisational productivity. It has been discussed in literature review part
that talent management is related to hiring right talent and also provide information about getting
positive outcomes in an effective manner. There has been different strategies studied concerned
with talent management for an instance detailed job description and provide training and
development opportunities. These are helpful in give the benefits of HR to manage the talent
management in an effective manner and making the workplace environment better. The main
focus of hospitality industry is to give the better facilities to customers so that they can get
positive experience and also be loyal. Other than this, there are some ways Sheraton hotel used
for executing talent management strategies in significant manner. The steps included in applying
a) Put strategic organizational change
b) Devise training program
c) Establish reward system
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 10 10
Column B

the talent management strategies are determine organisational goals, determine organisational drivers,
determine gaps, explain HR priorities and objectives, inventory talent management processes and
analyse results and communicate successes. These all are helpful in making the talent
management in a better manner. The talent management gives benefits to Sheraton hotel like
Retaining Talent and Hiring Right Fit for making the organisational environment competitive.
TASK 4
P6 Effectiveness of research methods applied for meeting business research objectives
I am happy to got opportunities for conduct a research about talent management and
implications of its strategies on enhancing competitive workplace. Investigation on this subject
allows me to expand my expertise as well as learning how talent management gives the benefits
to company by making the workplace environment competitive. In future activities, the
knowledge as well understanding will help me. I have learned regarding various sources which
can be mainly used to collect research information. I used the primary method for developing
questions to collect the information. Although the approach is successful but lacks personal
interaction between the investigators as well as the respondents that may or may not impact
information reliability.
P7 Alternative research methodologies
For the purpose of collecting the information for this study, I use the questionnaire to
gather more information in less time. This is because the time and funding given to me was very
limited, but since the subject was wider, I need to collect information from more people to make
it easier to present the clear information or explain it. In the future, I use interview as an
alternative method when I again get a chance to conduct research on such a topic. This is because
interview consists face-to-face interaction between individuals which ensuring flow of
respondents information about the area of study.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alferaih, A., Sarwar, S. and Eid, A., 2018, August. Talent turnover and retention research: The
case of tourism sector organisations in Saudi Arabia. In Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship (Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 166-186). Emerald Publishing
Limited.
Bharwani, S. and Talib, P., 2017. Competencies of hotel general managers: a conceptual
framework. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 29(1).
pp.393-418.
Bratton, A., 2018. The role of talent development in environmentally sustainable hospitality.
Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Burke, R. J. and Hughes, J. C. Eds., 2018. Handbook of human resource management in the
tourism and hospitality industries. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gibson, P. and Parkman, R., 2018. Cruise operations management: Hospitality perspectives.
Routledge.
Law, R. and et. al., 2015. Distribution channel in hospitality and tourism: Revisiting
disintermediation from the perspectives of hotels and travel agencies. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 27(3). pp.431-452.
Murray, W. C. 2017. Human resource challenges in Canada’s hospitality and tourism industry:
Finding innovative solutions. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes. 9(4).
pp.391-401.Tourism Themes. 10(1). pp.28-41.
Nzonzo, J. C. and Chipfuva, T., 2013. Managing Talent in the Tourism and Hospitality Sector: A
Conceptual View Point. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting,
Finance and Management Sciences. 3(2). pp.92-97.
Sirkova, M., Taha, V. A. and Ferencova, M., 2016. Management of hr processes in the specific
contexts of selected area. Polish Journal of Management Studies. 13(2). pp.142-152.
Vasquez, D., 2014. Employee retention for economic stabilization: A qualitative
phenomenological study in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Management,
Economics and Social Sciences. 3(1). pp.1-17.
Online
Dastidar, E., 2020. What are the benefits of talent management?. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.saviom.com/blog/benefits-of-talent-management/>.
Engstrom, E., 2020. 8 Talent Management Strategies for Fast-Growing Companies. [Online].
Available through: <https://recruiterbox.com/blog/8-talent-management-strategies-for-
fast-growing-companies>.
Vulpen, E. V., 2020. Creating a Talent Management Strategy. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.digitalhrtech.com/talent-management-strategy/>.

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