Analysis of Problem Solving and Decision Making at JW Marriott

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of problem-solving and decision-making strategies within JW Marriott. It begins with an overview of the company, its history, and its position within the hospitality industry. The report then delves into internal and external environmental analyses using SWOT and PESTLE frameworks, highlighting key issues such as employee turnover and the impact of financial planning. A fishbone diagram is employed to identify root causes of problems, followed by a discussion of applicable tools and theories, including force field analysis. Proposed solutions are presented, along with considerations for implementation, monitoring, and feedback. The report emphasizes the importance of effective problem-solving and decision-making skills in areas such as human resources and finance, concluding with a summary of findings and recommendations. The report provides a detailed evaluation of the problem-solving methods used by JW Marriott, and suggests improvements to the current strategies.

PROBLEM SOLVING
DECISION MAKING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
Main body.............................................................................................................................................3
Company overview..........................................................................................................................3
Issues identified through internal and external analysis..................................................................6
Fish born diagram............................................................................................................................7
Tools and theories that are applicable on the problem.....................................................................8
Solutions for resolving the problem. ...............................................................................................9
Aspects to be considered for implementation of the solution........................................................11
Feedback........................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Problem solving refers to the process of evaluating various ways to solve the difficult issue.
Decision making can be described as the process of selecting a particular course of action among
various alternatives. Problem solving and decision making both are important at workplace because
they plays an important role in various functions of the firm like management and leadership etc.
There are various types of skills required to solve a particular problem and these skills helps the
people to make relevant decisions in different areas such as human resource, finance etc
(Margerison, 2017). Marriott International is a hospitality firm which is founded in year 1927 by J.
Williard Marriott and Alice Marriott. According to The Times, Marriott is the third largest chain of
hotels in the world. It is the fourth best organization to work in UK in year 2009.
The Report will outline the information related with Marriott like history etc., internal and
external environment through PESTLE and SWOT. It will also describe the problem of high
turnover of employees with the help of SWOT and PESTLE analysis. Fish borne diagram on the
basis of problem analysed, tools like force filed analysis, solutions and their impact. It will also
outline various aspects to be considered during implementation of proposed solution, monitoring
and taking feedback etc.
Main body
Company overview
JW Marriott hotel offer inspiring hotel destinations, better customer services, featuring
thoughtful hotel amenities and engage experience that empower customers stay. Organization also
provide its guests online reservation facility, that help to save their time as well as move. They serve
the best food services to consumers and used organic ingredients while cooking food (Kumar and
et.al., 2017). Company offer accommodation facility to customers and also provide pool bar
services in which they offer light snacks and drinks. JW Marriott hotel is one of the leading
multinational firm in hospitality industry, they hire more than 176,000 workers. It is higher tier than
traditional Marriott hotels, providing luxurious rooms and amenities. In the world, firm run its
business around 84 locations successfully.
External and Internal environment analysis (SWOT and PESTLE analysis)
PESTLE analysis-
It is considered as one of the best tool or framework used to monitor and analyse macro
environmental factors that impact on company performance and business progress. It is an acronym

that stand for economic, political, environmental, social, legal and technological factors. In simple
words, this is an strategic business tool used by firms to organize, discover, track and evaluate
macro economic elements which impact on business now or in future.
Political factor-
Changes in foreign trade policy, labour law, trade restrictions, political instability and
stability, government policy, tax policy etc. all these components is included in political factors that
might be affect JW Marriott hotel. Political instability is considered as one of the political factor
that impact on company as well as its business growth (Mardani and et.al., 2015). Due to instable
political structure, government will implement new rules and policies which need to follow by hotel
in order to run business effectively, but these changes make negative impact on its business.
Political instability defined in two ways, the first approach is to refers to propensity for government
or regime change, second is to centring on incidence of political violence or upheaval in society
such as demonstrations, assassinations and others. Changes in tax policy, create barriers in business
success and growth, they need to pay extra charges according to change in tax policy which
directly affect company profit margin.
Economic factor-
Economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates, disposable income of customers and
unemployment rates is included in economic factors that impact on business. Foreign direct
investment is the investment in form of controlling ownership in company in one nation by the
entity based in another nation. Decline in FDI, affect business and emerging market of country,
without having funds and financial resources JW Marriott hotel cannot be able to provide better
services to its customers and good facilities to their workers. FDI allows developed world to start
improving emerging market possibility, with the help of Foreign direct investment business will
grow more and more.
Social factor-
Social factor represents demographic norms, characteristics, values and customs of
populations within which company operates (Keman ed., 2016). It includes population trends such
as age distribution, career attitudes, income distribution, population growth rates, safety emphasis,
lifestyle attitudes, cultural barriers and consciousness. Changes in attitudes, belief and culture of
customers, JW Marriott hotel business get impacted the most. They need to change each and every
thing according to consumer needs which consume time and required more investment that affect
business financial performance.
Technological factor-

Technology have huge impact on hotel business in form of online and offline rental services.
It rapidly dismantle competitive landscape and price structure of company in very short amount of
time. Thus, it extremely become essential to consistently and constantly innovate, for sake of
increasing possible profit as well as become market leader. Advancement in technology, impact on
JW Marriott hotel in which they need to make some changes in its marketing operation functions
and activities. Due to technological advancement, organization need to implement technologies
within their business structure which affect on business and might be increase their performance
better than before.
Legal factor-
Discrimination laws, employment laws, patent laws, consumer protection laws, patent laws,
antitrust laws and health and safety laws is included in legal factor that affect on company and the
way they do business within marketplace (Fiore and et.al., 2017). Firm need to know before doing
business what is and what is not legal which help to run business effectively and efficiently. Due to
changes in employment laws JW Marriott hotel face problems as it impact on its company growth
and business functions related to employees. They need to make some changes in their current
employment law which is quite difficult and consume a lot of time.
Environmental factor-
Environment factor become essential due to increasing scarcity of raw materials, carbon
footprint targets and pollution targets set by government. These elements include environmental and
ecological aspects such as climate change, environmental offsets and weather change which affect
JW Marriott hotel. Different markets have various environmental standards and norms which
impact productivity and profitability of company in those markets. Due to change in liability laws
and environmental laws company face issues that impact on its business as well as overall
operational efficiency. Organization need to contribute in CSR and reduce waste of materials which
help to save environment and keep it clean and healthy.
SWOT analysis-
SWOT analysis is the strategic planning method or framework used to help company
identifies its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to its business competition
(Aithal, 2017). It help to organize top strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat into the well
organized list and usually presented in easy two by two grid.
Strength-
JW Marriott has very strong position and reputation in market having expanded and
diversified business all over the world. Company is able to provide wide range of satisfied services

and products to their customers. They developed strong place regarding consumers as with attaining
and gaining their trust and loyalty. JW Marriott hotel has strong free cash flows that offer resources
in hand of organization to expand into new business or projects effectively. Management implement
new strategies in context of employees retention which is appropriate and suitable for business
progress.
Weaknesses-
Due to poor financial planning they cannot be able to make any change within
organizational structure which affect on its profit margin and over all business performance in
market. Lack of planning create issue that might be impact on JW Marriott hotel working
environment around workplace and decrease operational efficiency (Lehr, 2015). It also makes
barriers in creativity and innovation within business which negatively impact on financial budgets
and market revenue. Poor financial planning effect on organization functions and activities, as it
create issue related to training and development. Without having funds they are unable to provide
training to its workers that increase high employee turnover.
Opportunity-
In order to retain customers with business, organization implement new technologies and
provide online booking services to its guest. With the help of this services they can be able to retain
people and sustain business for longer time period within marketplace effectively and efficiently. It
is one of the best opportunity for company which make the able to perform better than its
competitors and raise their position higher than before. As compare to other companies, JW
Marriott hotel has higher attrition rate and they have to spend a lot more as compare to their
competitors on development and training of their workers (Bull and et.al., 2016). New technology
offer the best opportunity to company to practices differentiated pricing strategy in new market, it
enable organization to maintain their loyal consumers with great service and attract new guest
through another value oriented propositions.
Threat-
Intense competition threaten JW Marriott hotel, stable profitability increase number of
players in sector which has put downward pressure on organization profitability and overall sales.
Issues identified through internal and external analysis
With the help of external and internal analysis it is easy to understand key problems faced by
company. Lack of financial planning is one of the issue that create many problems which directly
impact on business reputation and market position. Without financial planning they cannot be able

to arrange training and development session for workers which affect on its performance. With the
help of appropriate financial planning company implement new technologies, and provide better
services to its customers that increase profit margin and generate revenue as compare to others. But
as mention above poor financial planning is one of the weakness of JW Marriott hotel that create
barriers in business growth and make them unable to manage overall business structure (Coccia,
2018). Financial planning needed review of business financial reports to encourage the
understanding of profit loss and income. It is very essential because, it help organization to
identifies its revenue or sales, gross profit, cost of products, net income and operating expenses.
Moreover, due to poor financial planning company will not be able to keep with their competitors
and it directly make negative impact on its market position and reputation as well as profit margin.
Without appropriate planning organization cannot hire new applicants and retain the exiting ones
with them for longer time. In order to gain competitive benefits, creativity is essential in business. It
is one of the best way of enhancing business performance and increasing profitability, but due to
poor financial planning JW Marriott hotel cannot make any creativity which also impact on its
customer base.
Fish born diagram
Fish born diagram is called effect and cause diagram, it is visualization tool used for
categorizing potential causes of issues in horde to identified their root causes. This diagram is useful
in barnstorming session to centring conversation, after the team has brainstormed all possible causes
for the issue, facilitators contribute group to rate potential causes according to its stages of diagram
and importance as hierarchy (Shinde, Ahirrao and Prasad, 2018). Fish borne diagram is usually
worked right to left, with each wide bone of fist branching out to involve smaller bones containing
more information. It is used in analyse phase of six sigma's Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and
Control approach to problem solving.
Define-
Seeking for solving issues in company, management must define problem which is the first
stage of Fish bone diagram. They need to know the exact issue and identify how this problem affect
business. They create list of issues that impact on business which is suitable in order to solve
problem within short period of time. They must collect information about current issue, inform to
high authority and after once issue is defined team must be able to solve it.
Measure-
In second phase of Fish bone diagram, management of JW Marriott hotel measure amount of
information gathered in first stage which is used to find solutions. They must create plan and

measure reason behind occurrence of problem, evaluate process and follow step by step in order to
solve defined problem.
Analyse-
Problem analyses helps to determine root cause of issue, management of company analyse
issues and make plan for solving it within short period of time.
Improve-
In order to improve business environment and position affected due to lack of financial
planning, organization implement plan and start procedure for problem solving.
Control-
Now that issue is identified and appropriate solution has been found and implement after
analysing and measuring inform, controlling is the last and final phase, without focusing on
continuous improvement company cannot be able to grow business. They must monitor
implemented plan which is beneficial for organization.
Tools and theories that are applicable on the problem.
There are various types of tools and theories that can be applied for retaining employees for
long time. Tools will help to analyse the issue and to communicate the recommendations. Marriott
Hotel will use the following tools.
The system and consulting approach :
It refers to the process or system that helps to develop various types of solutions for
resolving a particular problem. It involves various tasks that are are arranged in a logical manner.
Marriott should use various tools to analyse the problem of employee attrition such as analysis of
business environment, customer portfolio etc. Firm must develop own methodology that will help to
improve quality and efficiency of the performance (Parmenter, 2015).
Force Field analysis :
It is the model that was developed by Kurt Lewin that defines the problems related with
change that are to be tackled by the organization. It splits the factors that are in against and in
favour of the change. There are two types of forces they are restraining forces and driving forces.
Management of Marriott will use Force Field Analysis to examine the forces that are driving or
restraining the employees in respect of change due to which employees are leaving the organization.
There are various driving forces that leads to change. It involves change within the firm as well as
change outside the control of company. Example of internal forces of change are desire of
management to improve performance and profitability, requirement for bringing an improvement in

efficiency of employees etc. Example of external forces of change are strong competition, increase
in cost of operations, increase in demand for better customer service etc (Son and Kim, 2016).
Retaining forces are those factors that result in resistance to change due to which employees
of Marriott may leave the organization. It includes forces such as self interest, communication
problem, sense of insecurity etc. Management of Hotel should make efforts to understand the above
factors that will help to retain loyal employees in the organization through effective training and
development activities etc.
Lewin's change management model:
The model was developed by Kurt Lewin and it is one of the most powerful tool for
managing change in the organization. There may occur situations when employees are not happy
with the proposed change and ultimately they leave the firm. Management of Marriott Hotel will
use Kurt Lewin's change management model for resolving the problem of high level of attrition of
employees. There are three stages of the mode. Such as -
Unfreeze -
At this phase, workers of the hotel will realize that some change will happen in the firm.
During unfreeze stage, there must be proper communication between management and employees
so that, workers will accept the proposed change.
Change -
This phase is also known as move stage because change will be implemented during this
stage. During change stage, employees will develop new behaviour, their way of thinking will
change (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown, 2016).
Freeze -
During the stage of freeze, management of Marriott will make efforts for making proper
arrangements so that, workers of the firm will not revert back to the old procedures. Employees will
perform according to new changes. The model will help Marriott to resolve the issue of high
employee turnover by managing the proposed changes in three different stages.
Solutions for resolving the problem.
Employees leave the organization due to various reasons and sometimes there are situations
that, employer is not aware of the causes. Marriott Hotel will use various methods to reduce the
level of employee turnover. Such as-
Training and development :
It is one of the best method to retain employees in the firm for long period. Training and
development should be important part of retention strategies of Marriott. Organization should
conduct training programs once in a week for employees working at different levels. Such as

general, supervisory training etc.
Advantage -
Training and development helps to improve employee productivity and morale. As a result,
workers will not leave the firm.
Disadvantage -
For conducting training and development activities for the employees, company requires to
invest huge amount of funds like appointing trainer, purchasing new tools and equipments etc.
Moreover, it is also a time consuming process.
Rewards and recognition :
Rewards and recognition for better work performance is one of the important element of
retaining employees in the organization. Human Resource Manager of Marriott should offer
financial and non financial incentives like perks, bonus etc. to staff members. This will help to
resolve the issue of high attrition of employees in the organization (Langove and Isha, 2017).
Advantage -
It motivates the employees to perform better in future and they will not leave the firm. It
also improves job satisfaction level of workers.
Disadvantage -
It may result in employee resentment. There are some employees that considers the rewards
as disincentive. This situation happens when they think that they will not be able to compete and
this impact their performance in negative way.
Flexibility :
Flexibility at workplace also helps to retain employees in the organization. Marriott Hotel
should provide flexibility in work to the employees. Such as providing Saturday off in a week etc.
Advantage -
It helps to improve productivity of workers. Further, it also promote retention of employees
in the company (Mak and Chang, 2019).
Disadvantage -
It may be possible that flexible work schedule will negatively impact the performance of
workforce due to lack of proper supervision in case of work from home.
Recommendation :
Management of Marriott Hotel should adopt Training and development as a solution to
control the level of employee attrition in the organization. It provides benefits to employees as well
as to the organization. Proper training and development helps to enables the workers to perform
those tasks on which they have doubt when they join the firm. Therefore, Marriott Hotel should use
different methods to provide training to employees like on the job, off the job training etc. This will

help to retain employees and they will not leave the organization (Langove and Isha, 2017).
Aspects to be considered for implementation of the solution.
For implementation of effective training and development programme in Marriott Hotel,
Management have to consider various aspects. These are as follows -
Human Resource :
One of the most important aspect that organization will have to take into consideration
during implementation of training and development programmes is human resource. Training
programme of Marriott Hotel may be aimed at various types of audience. It includes Senior
management, personnel officer, HR units, strategic planning units, line managers, workers working
at lower level of the hotel like operational level employees etc. The aspect of human resource helps
to determine that for whom training and development programmes will be developed. Moreover,
company will determine number of trainers that will be required for providing training to employees
(Koh, Ong and Camiré, 2016).
Training and development :
Another important aspect that Human Resource department of Marriott should consider is
the mode of delivering training to the employees. There are different modes of providing training to
the workers of the hotel for various types of training. To provide technical, managerial training firm
will use on the job method. For providing quality and soft skills training, firm will use web based
delivery method etc.
Finance :
Training and development activities are based on proper resource allocation and budgeting.
The type of training that firm will provide to employees is largely dependent on the budget like
vestibule training, web based etc. Another major aspect that Marriott Hotel have to consider is the
amount required for providing training to the employees. There are various areas in which funds
will be required to implement training and development programme. Marriott will consider the
requirement of funds for providing training material, training facilities etc. Management should
prepare a spreadsheet that include cost of material, indirect cost, snacks etc.
Timing :
Timing of training is also very important factor that organization have to consider while
implementing training and development programmes for the employees. It can also be described as
the time period under which training of workers will be completed. Generally, training requires one
hour but, it may sometimes take even a day or a week. Therefore, Marriott Hotel will have to decide
the time period for which training will be given to workers. Time of training should be concise and
realistic (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown, 2016.).

For example – Vestibule training may be provided to employees twice in a year on
communication and skills of management. Effective training schedule helps to reduce
communication issues and it will also help the workers to plan for attending the training
programme.
Feedback.
Feedback means the reaction or views of the person in respect of performance of the
individual or a group. It acts as the basis to improve the current level of performance. To determine
whether training programmes are effective or not, post evaluation is essential. It helps to ensure
whether training programmes has provided desired results or not. Evaluation of training
programmes should take place after few months of implementation. Manager of Marriott hotel will
take feedback from workforce, feedback from customers after purchasing goods or availing the
services of the hotel. Direct feedback will be taken from employees after conducting training and
development sessions. This will help to develop respect in the firm (Bournois, Chauchat and
Roussillon, 2017).
Further, feedback from customers will be taken with the help of questionnaire. This will help
the Management to determine whether employees are able to satisfy the needs of clients after
conducting training programmes, whether it is related with sales, interaction with customers, client
relations etc. Moreover, quiz will also be conducted regarding important areas of the training. If,
workers will not score better in that case, management will take action for further improvement.
Monitoring -
It refers to checking or observing the progress of something and collecting information
related with any project. Marriott Hotel will set various key performance indicators (KPI) to
monitor the performance of employees after conducting training and development programmes.
These KPI's will act as a basis to evaluate learning programme of the company. KPI's that will be
used to monitor employees performance are as follows -
 Reduction in time taken by employees to complete the activities.
 Reduction in cost of operations.
 Customer satisfaction score.
 Revenue growth rate etc.
CONCLUSION
From above, it has been concluded due to lack of training JW Marriott hotel face issue, it is
considered as one of the main problem that affect on its performance and profitability. Lack of
training impact on workers performance and increase high employee turnover, which effect on