Strategic Human Resource Management Analysis for Marriott Hotels

This report provides a strategic analysis of human resource management within Marriott Hotels, examining the roles and priorities of HR functions, including recruitment, employee relations, and safety. It delves into the internal and external influences that affect HR operations, such as competition, compensation, economic forces, and technological advancements. The report also explores the impact of organizational changes on HR, focusing on compensation, performance management, and talent management over a three-year period. It highlights the importance of employee engagement, succession planning, and fostering a culture of innovation within the organization. The analysis references key HR models, such as the Ulrich Model, and discusses the challenges and opportunities facing HR professionals in a global hospitality environment. The report emphasizes the need for strategic alignment of HR practices to achieve organizational goals and objectives, focusing on attracting and retaining talented employees.

STRATEGIC
HUMAN
RESOURCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Roles and priorities of HR functions ..............................................................................................3
Different internal and external influence the functioning of HR.....................................................4
Changes in the organization and the impact on HR function..........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Strategic human resource management can be defined as a process of analyzing
opportunities and threats which generally exists in the environment and also formulate specific
strategies as per the organization strength and weakness. Further, strategic HR framework aiming
on aligning with HR practices in order to develop critical capabilities to achieve organizational
goals and objectives (Jiang and et.al., 2012). In this context, the organization undertaken for the
present study is Marriott hotels and resorts which is a flagship brand of Marriott International.
Marriott brand is so bog that almost 505 hotels are operating under the same. This report will
generally focus on assessing different roles and priorities of the HR manager functions along
with the different internal and external influences which might affect the business operations.
Single HR team comprises some expertise who generally focuses on grooming the
employees and take them to a convenient position so that they can achieve their individual as
well as the organizational goals and objectives. Further, from the view point of Sheth, (2011)
there are different HR functions which a manager have to follow in order to have a proper and
efficient functioning within the business organization. Managers generally give their best in
order to motivate the employees so that they get motivated and they work with best of their
efficiency and capabilities. But these people are not that fruitful and at times they are not able to
perform well in order to solve the problem of employees. Gregor and Hevner, (2013) stated that
there is a lack of strategic foothold and it is generally difficult for the HR manager to become a
strategic partner because one HR cannot look towards each and every department of the
organization and generally at times it leads to the complexity in working of the employees. On
the contrary Baker and Sinkula, (2005) stated that HR managers have to use the size of
organization for more and more advantage and the management teams which are smaller in
number generally considered as more accessible.
Further, HR manager in the organization generally fails in the managing time and due to
this reason, employees feel hesitated and annoyed. In order to meet this successfully, HR
manager have to keep a simple time log of contacts with employees and also need to find some
time in order to solve their grievance. Further, they should focus on prioritizing the work as they
should complete the work first which is most important and then should focus on others.
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On the other side, almost 27% of HR managers in the organization uses “The Ulrich
Model” From the view point of Zhu and et.al., (2012) Ulrich Model from David Ulrich has
generally changed the human resources as he is considered as the greatest HR guru who has
generally influenced the way how organization managing their human resources today. Further,
David Ulrich was having power to change the HR. moreover, this model focuses on four major
HR roles and these are HR business partner, Change agent, Administrative Expert and
Employees advocate. Business partner will show the strategic HR planning, business partner
lines and the cultural along with the image of the business enterprise within the market. Change
agent is usually work for employees in the organization and it majorly focuses on Staffing,
design of the organization, performance measurement and enablement. Moreover, operational
focus of organization will be on advocating the employees through developing effective
employee's relation, relation with labors, giving diversity and equal opportunities to employees.
At last, administrative expert will emphasis on compensation, different HR benefits, compliance
and different HRIS.
It has been argued Hollensen, (2015) that this model have some loopholes as at times HR
manager of the organization is not able to make an equivalent bond which generally reduce the
success of this model. Further, this model was only successful since the time the strength of
employees were quite less in the business enterprise. It is the time period where a public limited
company is employing more than thousands of employees and controlling them is a big and a
challenging issue for an HR manager.
According to Aleprete Jr and Hoffman, (2012) employees who are working in company
need to focus on different issues which generally wants their attention. It is the prior role of HR
manager that they should complete their task on time in order to manage a proper schedule of
their personal and professional life. HR generally respect the deadlines as it usually shows the
priority and urgency to meet. Employees too shall focus on respecting the deadlines in order to
give clients a positive experience. Basically business organizations are performing their in order
to satisfy the needs and demands of the customers only, so it is there first priority to accomplish
their needs in order to get a competitive advantage.
On the other side, 43% of the HR professionals stated that they first seeks the challenging
and inappropriate behaviors and actions of employees. Craig and Campbell, (2012) argued that
this is the only reason which is generally affecting the performance of the organization. HR
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professionals generally have their core emphasis in order to solve them for getting a competitive
advantage over their major competitors. Further, if employees are satisfied then they will be
boosted up and in that respect they will work with best of their efficiency to achieve their
individual as well as organizational goals and objectives.
From the view point of Lee, Kim and Park, (2012), the most common areas of the HR
professionals is recruitment and selection, effective utilization of resources, performance
appraisals, managing conflicts, etc. These HR experts should work in a proper manner in order to
drive the relative change within the business enterprise. Recruiting and selecting means HR
professionals the best and suitable candidate for the particular job. This is the core and major
responsibility of the HR team of business enterprise. HR manager have to prepare job description
and job specification statement to choose the best talented workforce. Moreover, for utilizing the
resources, HR manager of organization has to utilize both human and non-human resources to
achieve goals and objectives. For effective utilization, HR professionals need to develop
effective policies and procedures in order to have better functioning of the organization.
Further, Baker and Sinkula, (2005) stated that HR manager to evaluate all the employee
performance within the mentioned company. This process constitutes part of career development
and focuses on giving constant reviews to employees regarding their performance. Performance
appraisals are made by HR manager either by self assessment or by peer assessments. Further, it
has been argued by Kelliher and Henderson, (2006) that training and development of employees
takes lot more time and it is severely considered as a burden for the venture because it increases
the cost of the organization. In order to save this, organization focuses on recruiting the multi
skilled and talented employees because they come with the knowledge which is generally
required by the firm. Further, it is a timely process too as train them will consume more time and
other operational activities of the business gets affected.
Roles and priorities of HR functions
Strengthening the workforce and developing strong employer-employee relationship is
the strategic role which HR manager plays within Marriott International. Roles of HR are as
follows: Recruitment and selection- HR manager of the cited firm is having a responsibility to
recruit and select talented workforce which will generally lowers down the cost and labor
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turnover. Moreover, HR manager of cited hospitality has a strategic role to combine
elements of employee’s relation in recruitment and selection strategy as they have to
choose the best of the candidate from the pool of individuals. Safety and security of employees- HR of Marriott has to provide an environment where
employees are safe from all the environment hazards and they feel comfortable from all
possible ways in the hospitality venture (Uhrenfeldt and et. al., 2014). Moreover, HR
manager should ensure safety at the workplace. Further, Corporate need to avoid all the
potential losses from on the job injuries as it will harm the business enterprise goodwill
and will impact the revenue as well.
 Superior-subordinate relationship- HR manager of cited hospitality has responsibility to
strengthen the employer-employee relations. Further, employees relations is a major part
of each and every discipline as they get dissatisfied even with a single aspect which
might be in the form of salaries, benefits, training and employee development (7 Steps to
Completing an Effective and Strategic HR Assessment. 2015).
Furthermore, attracting and retaining enterprise contributors falls within the priorities of
the HR functions. HR professionals have to focus on conventional performance management
which generally improves the individual performance. These employees are considered as an
contributor because they are the real assets for the hospitality and they help in making effective
decisions for the organization success (Motro and Smets, 2012). Moreover, mentioned
hospitality should make the interview process available for everyone but HR manager shall make
a eligibility criteria for the selection. It is necessary too as Marriott is a global brand and
organization having its own standard to entertain the guests and clients. Further, organization
only hires multi skilled and talented employees.
Different internal and external influence the functioning of HR
Successful human resource strategy for Marriott comes with organziation goals and
objectives. Further, the factors which impacts the HR activities is not static as in order to meet
this HR manager have to monitor both internal and external factors and they have to adjust their
HR strategies according to that only. Internal factors for cited hospitality includes:
 Competition: Competiton is their between the candidates only to have a sound position in
the Marriott hotel. This is because it is a global brand and it gives lot more exposure to
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their employees. Further, being such a reputed hospitality, organization never been in
need of advertising the recruitment in the newspaper. Potential candidates checks the
official website of the firm and apply on the same. HR receives the application and he/she
screens as per the capability of individual. Compensation: Labor supply generally drives the amount of compensation a business
must offer in order to attract the employees. Further, in a market when unemployment is
high and qualified candidates exist than job opportunities, then organization have to pay
the compensation to that employee which satisfies their needs and demands (Caniëls and
Bakens, 2012).
External Environment
Economic forces for cited firm includes growth rate and strategy, national as well as per
capita income, competitors, labor and globalization. These factors have huge impact on the
wages and salary levels. Further, technological factors has made jobs more intellectual and
upgraded. Employees can fill the application form online as it generally saves the time. Earlier,
form need to be filled physically at the same time which involves more cost and time.
Changes in the organization and the impact on HR function
In the coming three years, total compensation along with the HR operations and
infrastructure are going to be the most important and effective for the cited firm. Further,
performance management and talent management will play a crucial role in the development and
also to the success of the organization. Under the talent management, HR manager will anticipate
the number of human capital required for the proper functioning of the business organization
along with the proper planning to meet the employees needs (5 Priorities HR Can’t Ignore in
2015. 2014).
Further, organization will try to seek the leaders who can motivate the employees to work
with best of their efficiency and also help them to achieve their individual as well as
organizational objectives. This will be generally done with the help of the succession planning.
Further, within the three years, cited hospitality will be fostering a cultural innovation by
recruiting new candidate along with developing the next generation leaders.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is clearly stated that different HR managers having their own
style to work in the organization and usually they are focusing on fulfilling the needs of
employees so that they tend to work with best of their efficiency and capabilities. Further, this
report showcase the different HR functions like recruitment and selection of talented employees,
developing superior- subordinate relationship, etc. in order to meet the goals and objectives of
the hospitality.
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REFERENCES
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effects on new product performance and Market share. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science. 33(5). pp. 461– 475.
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effects on new product performance and Market share. Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science. 33(5). pp. 461– 475.
Caniëls, M. C. and Bakens, R. J., 2012. The effects of Project Management Information Systems
on decision making in a multi project environment. International Journal of Project
Management. 30(2). pp. 162-175.
Craig, T. and Campbell, D., 2012. Organisations and the business environment. Routledge.
Gregor, S. and Hevner, A. R., 2013. Positioning and presenting design science research for
maximum impact. MIS quarterly. 37(2). pp. 337-356.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Jiang, K. and et.al., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational
outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of
management Journal. 55(6). pp. 1264-1294.
Kelliher, F. and Henderson, B. J., 2006. A learning framework for the small business
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Lee, H., Kim, M. S. and Park, Y., 2012. An analytic network process approach to
operationalization of five forces model. Applied Mathematical Modelling. 36(4). pp. 1783-
1795.
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Motro, A. and Smets, P., 2012. Uncertainty management in information systems: from needs to
solutions. Springer Science & Business Media.
Sheth, J. N., 2011. Impact of emerging markets on marketing: Rethinking existing perspectives
and practices. Journal of Marketing. 75(4). pp. 166-182.
Uhrenfeldt, L. and et. al., 2014. Collaboration: a SWOT analysis of the process of conducting a
review of nursing workforce policies in five European countries. Journal of nursing
management. 22(4). 485-498.
Zhu, Y. and et.al., 2012. Grey relational evaluation of innovation competency in an aviation
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Online
5 Priorities HR Can’t Ignore in 2015. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.cebglobal.com/blogs/5-priorities-hr-cant-ignore-in-2015/>. [Accessed on
12th December 2015].
7 Steps to Completing an Effective and Strategic HR Assessment. 2015. [Online]. Available
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