Effective HRM Strategies for Four-Star Hotels: A Case Study Approach

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Human Resources Management for Service Industries
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Assignment Part 1.........................................................................................................................4
Assignment Part 2.........................................................................................................................7
Assignment Part 3.......................................................................................................................10
Assignment Part 4.......................................................................................................................12
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................13
Reference List..............................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Human resource management can be referred to the term that is used for describing the formal
systems, which are formulated for managing the workforce of a company. Fundamentally, the
purpose and function of human resource management are to increase the productivity of a
business to the maximum level through optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the
existing workforce of the organisation. Continuous growth and expansion of the service
industries all across the world in the past twenty years have led to huge job opportunities, which
in turn turned effective human resource management in this particular sector an essential
function.
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Assignment Part 1
1. Analyse what functions and the role you see your department (the HR Department)
playing in the effective management of the hotel (AC 1:1)
The service industry is comprised of different kinds of businesses, which include hotels,
restaurants, delivery services and many others (Tukker and Tischner, 2017). The chief objective
of the service sector is to provide quality services to the customers, for which the industry is in
the requirement of employing a huge number of efficient candidates. These candidates of the
workforce of a business can be referred to as the human resource of the company, which is
managed by the human resource management. The human resource management of the four-
star undertakes various activities that are discussed as follows:
Planning and Forecasting
Forecasting can be referred to predicting what could occur practically based on the performance
of the four-star hotel in the past as well as in the present. On the other hand, planning can be
referred to the development of plans prior to starting an activity (Belcourt and McBey, 2016).
The human resource department of the organisation forecasts various aspects which will be
incorporated in the different plans of the hotel for effective operation. Without this function, the
company would not be able to accomplish its objectives.
Recruitment process
The recruitment process of the four-star hotel is comprises of different activities such as
analysis of job requirements, seeking appropriate candidates, conducting interviews with the
suitable ones and others as such (Gibbs et al., 2015). Having a thorough recruitment process
will assist the company to employ the best candidates which in turn will increase the productivity
of the overall hotel. On the other hand, a dilettante recruitment process will obstruct smooth
operations of the organisation.
Training and development
Training is a crucial part for staff development which will not only educates the employees but
also will make sure that the four-star hotel obtains the best from its workforce (Prayag and
Hosany, 2015). Apart from that, there are certain job roles that require training and certification,
for instance, the chef of the hotel kitchen. The responsibility of the human resource department
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of the concerned hotel is to provide proper training to all the newly recruited staffs for preparing
them for their individual job roles. Without proper training, the workforce will be inefficient, which
will affect the productivity of the hotel. In this context, the four-star hotel will provide On-job
training to the candidates who will be selected.
Deployment and monitoring of employees
The human resource department of the four-star hotel will require allocating the workforce of the
company by assessing the requirements within the organisation (Robinson and Schroeder,
2015). This will assist the hotel in providing quality service to the guests. Moreover, the human
resource department will also require monitoring the individual performance of the workforce in
order to evaluate the performance of the employees. This will assist the organisation in
identifying the potentials of the workforce, and for providing further training to the staffs that are
inefficient in certain areas. In this context, the concerned will implement deployment and
employee monitoring through processes such as providing job appraisals and others.
Recommend what you think the organization chart will look like in the new hotel.
Remember to give reasons for your recommendations. (AC 1:2)
The recommended organisation chart for the four-star hotel is illustrated as follows:
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Head Manager
Finance Sales and Marketing General ManagerHuman ResourceAssistant Manager
Division of rooms Food and Beverage House Keeping Technical Services
Front Office Revenue and reservations Management of Duty
Figure 1: Organisation chart of the four – star hotel
(Source: created by the learner)
The head manager of the hotel will be the head of the organisation will be responsible for
looking after the five main departments, which are finance, sales and marketing, human
resource, executive assistant manager and general manager (Mester et al., 2018). The duty of
the general manager will be to look after the overall operations of the organisation. The finance
department will look after the financial resources and the responsibility of the sales and
marketing department will be marketing and promoting the available products and services of
the hotel in order to maximise sales. The human resource department will be responsible for
looking after the workforce requirements of the company. The assistant manager will be
responsible for looking after four other departments, which are room division, food and
beverage, housekeeping and technical services, which the essential products and services of
the company. The room division department will be divided further into three departments for
the convenience of management and monitoring, which are front office, management of duty,
along with revenue and reservations. These departments will look after the requirements of the
guests and the revenue generated from the accommodations.
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Assignment Part 2
1. The difference between a Job Description and a Person Specification (AC 3.1)
A job description can be referred to as a chief document required in the process of recruitment,
which has to be finalised beforehand making any further progression in the process (Boella,
2017). The key elements of a job description include job title and location, the post to which the
holder of the post is liable, key purposes of the job, along with chief duties and responsibilities. If
there are some kinds of special working conditions required, it should also be mentioned in the
job description. On the other hand, a person specification can be referred to as a profile of an
ideal new staff of an organisation, which is comprised of skills, experience as well as the type of
personality (Waugh et al., 2014). In other words, a person specification includes organisational,
technical, communication, and creative skills as well as abilities the employer expects from a
model candidate. The difference between the job description and person specification of the job
role of a receptionist of the hotel is discussed as follows:
The receptionist of a Hotel
Job Description Person Specification
 The job title along with the position is the
hotel
 Location of the Hotel
 Summary of the nature, key purpose and
goals of the receptionist
 List of chief duties of the receptionist
 Required Skills and qualifications
 Salary and benefits
 The communicative, organisational, creative
and technical skills expected of a
receptionist, such as excellent time
management skills.
 Particular qualification required
 The level of experience required for the job
role
 Traits of the characters required for being an
effective receptionist, such as friendly and
positive persona
Table 1: Difference between job description and person specifications of a receptionist of
a hotel
(Source: Created by the learner)
2. What factors would you as an HR Manager need to know about a job to enable you to
draw up an effective job description and person specification (AC 3.1)
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The human resource manager of the hotel requires various aspects in order to draw up a job
description along with a person specification that will be effective in nature. These different
aspects are discussed as follows:
Job Description
 Task Functions and Responsibilities: The HR manager has to define every job functions
and responsibilities since these are linked with the performance of the duties of the staffs.
 Performance Standards: The HR manager has to indicate the standards of quality and
productivity required for the job role
 Skills related to Job Role: The HR manager will also require providing a list of required
expertise and skills, and competencies demanded by the job role such as communication
skills, technical skills and other as such.
 Management Expectations: This can be referred to the expectations of the management
from individual staff regarding availability, such as overtime, flexibility in routine for day off,
policies for absenteeism, expected staff behaviour and others as such.
Person Specification
 Competencies: The HR manager has to define the core competencies that the candidates
would require for instance certain language skills, communication skills, and others as such.
 Prior Experience: The required experience for performing a specific job role should be
mentioned in a person specification.
 Qualification: Necessary qualifications for a particular job role should be also included in an
effective person specification, such as a specific degree in a particular subject.
 Personal Qualities: The characteristics required in a candidate, which are directly relevant
to the job role should also be mentioned in a person specification.
3. How the selection process may differ in different service industries (AC 3:2)
In different service industries, such as hotel, restaurant, food and beverage, transportation and
many others, the process of selecting employees will vary from each other as the job
requirements and roles are diverse. The selection process for recruiting a manager in a hotel
will differ from the same in a restaurant. In a hotel business, the general manager will have to
manage the workforce, accommodation, room service, provision of food and beverage and
other as such services. Whereas, in a restaurant, a general manager will have to manage the
food orders, food supplies, as well as the workforce. Therefore, it can be stated that these two
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job roles will require different skills and competencies. Therefore, the process of selection will
vary from each other. In addition to that, the level of thoroughness of the selection process in
hotels is higher than the same in restaurants as the former requires following a huge number of
rules and regulations than the latter. Moreover, the selection process in hotels is multi-fold,
comprised of various formalities, while the same in restaurants is less hectic and does include
so many formalities.
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Assignment Part 3
Class Debate: If the right calibre of people are selected and recruited in the first place,
there would be no need for any training and development activities in a hotel
In support
In hotels when people with appropriate skills and competencies are recruited there is no
requirement of conducting training and development activities. Candidates who are skilled and
experienced, who already know about the responsibilities and duties required to be performed in
a particular job role (Uppal et al., 2014). In addition to that, people possessing the right quality
and competence will be able to perform better than the employees who do not possess the
same. Moreover, skilled and experienced candidates will possess organisational skills, which
will assist the hotel to increase its productivity (Kotur and Anbazhagan, 2014). Furthermore,
these kinds of employees will be capable of setting an example for the rest of the workforce.
Against
Even if people of right calibre are selected and recruited in a hotel, there would still be a
requirement for training and development activities. As the work process of different hotels
varies from each other, the requirement of training and development activities (Keep, 2014).
Even though the candidates are skilled and experience, different people have a different
weakness, which can be addressed through these activities. Moreover, training and
development activates have proved to enhance the performance of the workforce (Bell et al.,
2017). In addition to that, it provides the candidates with employee satisfaction as they feel that
are being valued by the hotel. The training and development activities make sure that staffs gain
a consistent experience as well as background knowledge regarding the hotel.
Summary
Training and development activities contribute largely towards the effective operation of a hotel.
These activities assist employees to improve their performance, as a result, the overall
performance of the hotel enhances as well. Moreover, these activities assist hotel with
increasing its productivity and adhere to a standard of quality in terms of the products and
services that are provided. In addition to that, training and development activities help hotels to
decrease the rate of employee turnover, as these activities provide the workforce with growth
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and development opportunities within the company. Furthermore, since the training and
development activities enhance the quality of the service that is provided, in turn, the reputation
and profile of the hotel also enhance.
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Assignment Part 4
Activity: Employment Law Game
The first case will be in support of the union, while the second case will be in the support of the
management.
Case 1: Employee 1
The objective of the bargain strategy is to ask the concerned restaurant to pay the female
supervisor equal amount of salary as the male employees. The union team will ask the
management of the restaurant proper evidence behind firing the female supervisor. The
restaurant will fail to do so; however, the union has to be prepared for to the fallback position, in
case the plan fails. Furthermore, the union team can also ask the management of the restaurant
reasons behind paying the female supervisor less than the male employees, which is a strong
ground for discrimination. Therefore, this will assist the union team to win. Therefore, the
bargaining strategy developed here by the union team following the Employment Act 2008
which has been agreed by the management is a new policy where all the employees will be
given equal salary irrespective of their gender.
Case 2: Employee 2
The objective of this bargaining strategy is to prove the claims of the room attendants to be
false. The management of the hotel has to be prepared with evidence regarding not being
discriminative towards the room attendant. In addition to that, the management has to be
prepared with creative solutions to all the predictable questions that the union team can ask. If
the management of the hotel can prove that they were not aware of the sexual choices of the
room attendant, then they will win the case. Therefore, the bargaining strategy developed in this
case by the management of the hotel, which has been agreed by the union team is carrying out
regular performance appraisal of the employees, so that such misconception and
miscommunication can be avoided in the future.
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