Hyatt Hotels Corporation: Ethical Leadership and Crisis Management

This report analyzes the ethical orientation of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, focusing on CEO Mark Hoplamazian's formative influences and leadership style, which emphasizes employee relationships and ethical values. It identifies a major ethical crisis involving the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concerning Hyatt's social media policy and the company's resolution through settlement and policy adjustments. The report concludes that there is a direct relationship between the CEO's ethical orientation and the resolution of ethical issues within the organization, citing Hyatt's commitment to employees during economic downturns as an example of ethical leadership in action, leading to the successful expansion of the hotel chain. This analysis is based on secondary research from publicly available sources and presented in APA style.

June 16th 2018
Ethics, Social Responsibilities & Sustainability
Hyatt Hotels Corporation

ETHICS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBITLTIES AND SUSTAINABILITY 1
Part 1
Mr. Mark Samuel Hoplamazian, 54, has been serving as the President and the Chief
Executive Officer since the year 2006, of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, one of the companies
to be listed in “The best 100 companies to work for” (Hyatt, 2018). Hoplamazian pursued his
BA from the prestigious Harvard College in 1985, followed by MBA in 1989 from the
University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Hoplamazian began his career at the
Pritzker Organization at the age of 25, where he had initially helped in managing the real
estate portfolio and other financial affairs of the Pritzker family, and was later appointed as
the Interim President in June 2006 (Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, 2012).
However his stellar record and dedication towards his work, rose him to the appointment of
permanent CEO and President in December 2006. As stated by Hoplamazian along with the
Chairman in the annual report of 2012, Hyatt’s focus has always been more on building
culture and relationships among colleagues and less on size. Apart from this, his individual
management style is concentrated on asking and answering lots of questions and treatment of
the employees with sincerity. Thus, it can be summed up that the CEO of Hyatt Hotels
Corporation is ethically oriented towards customers and employees’ satisfaction and loyalty
towards stakeholders.
Part 2
In the year 2012, Hyatt Hotels Corporation was targeted by National Labor Relations
Board (NRLB) on account of the social media policy of the company, which had prohibited
employees from posting images of Hyatt’s locations or facilities or displaying Hyatt logos on
the social media (Marques & Starr, 2012). Moreover a company rule was also challenged by
NRLB, in relation to unauthorized disclosure or use of any confidential information about
Hyatt, its associates, clients or business practices, acquired as a part of employment. The

ETHICS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBITLTIES AND SUSTAINABILITY 2
above policies were considered as interfering the employees’ right to engage in concerted
activities for mutual aid or protection. Instead of entering into long and costly trials, Hyatt
opted for settling with the employees by entering into agreement (Shen, 2013). Eventually
Hyatt dealt with the controversy by re hiring the two employees with back pay, and
substantially settling with one, who had breached the concerned condition.
Part 3
From the discussion held in the previous parts, it can be concluded that there is a
direct relationship between a CEO’s ethical orientation and ethical issues resolution in an
organisation. A Hoplamazian believed in listening to employees as a key ingredient to lead
any business and maintaining engaging relationships with employees, accordingly when the
hotel business was facing the global downturn in the years 2008 and 2009, while the hotel
groups like Marriott and Hilton were badly hit and affected, Hyatt continued to pay out the
earlier promised to employees. Consequently, 230 new Hyatt hotels were opened under
Hoplamazian’s supervision which accounts to around half of the total number of hotels in the
chain. Thus, it can be said when the leaders at the top level believe in inculcating ethical
values like loyalty, dedication and satisfaction of employees and customers, the whole
business chian works on the same line.

ETHICS, SOCIAL RESPONSIBITLTIES AND SUSTAINABILITY 3
References
Hyatt Hotels Corporation. (2018). Investor Relations. Retrieved from:
http://investors.hyatt.com/investor-relations/corporate-governance/management-
team/Person-Details/default.aspx?ItemId=ae10f263-6fc3-4a85-af4b-2d88e07e8bde
Marques, K. H. & Starr, M. (2012). NLRB Targets Hyatt for Its Employee Conduct Rules.
Retrieved from: https://www.hklaw.com/publications/nlrb-targets-hyatt-for-its-
employee-conduct-rules-06-15-2012/
Shen, F. (2013). Hyatt and workers settle, union looks ahead. Retrieved from:
https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2013/01/25/hyatt-and-workers-settle-union-looks-
ahead/
Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. (2012). Hyatt’s Mark Hoplamazian:
Quantifying the Value of Customer Service. Retrieved from:
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/hyatts-mark-hoplamazian-quantifying-
the-value-of-customer-service/