Unit 23 Managing Human Resources Assignment - Marriot Hotel

Unit 23 Managing Human Resources Assignment - Marriot Hotel

Introduction

Human resources management is term that is been used for developing and maintaining the capabilities of individual to meet the organizational objectives more convincing and appropriate manners. Managing Human Resources (MHR) is process of conducting job analysis, planning personnel needs, recruiting right people according to requirements of organization as well as offering the training to the staff for managing the operations. The core elements of MHR involve leadership, personnel management, flexibility, equal opportunities and welfare of staff members to retain them. The report will provide information about Guest’s model of HRM and difference between HRM and personnel management using the examples of two organizations. In the next part report will explain flexibility model and use of flexibility for both employees and employer considering the example of Marriot hotel. The organization has started business in 1957 and currently operating business in more than 500 locations across the world.  The major products of organization are hotels and resorts and to maintain the services management has appointed 199,900 staff members at different locations. Moreover, report will explain forms of discrimination and discuss the practical implications of equal opportunities. At the end, report will assess the approaches of managing people welfare and evaluate the impact of topical issues like e-recruitment and changes in the pension schemes.

Task 1 Essay

Guest Model of HRM: HRM is generally used for the people but the word resources add complexity to the whole HRM model. Human resources are an important asset to every industry whether it is service sector or manufacturing sector. Therefore the need arises for managing the human resources and these resources are not similar to any other resources such as plants, equipment and building. Guest introduced the six dimension model of HRM for better understanding of HRM:

HRM strategy-It means the integration of HRM strategy with organisational strategy in accomplishing the organisational goals. HRM strategy lay downs three main criteria i.e. differentiation, focus and cost (Bamberger.et.al. 2014). Differentiation means strategy should be such that the organisation is able to provide something different and innovative as compare to other competitors with better and higher quality (focus). Cost reduction criteria should also kept in mind while forming HRM strategy.

HRM practices-This dimension involves HRM practices and organisational strategy emphasis the interrelated nature of HRM activities. According to this, the common HRM practices are selection, training, appraisal, reward, job design, involvement, status and security. This chain is normally followed for the appointment of the human resources.

HRM outcomes-This dimension defines the employee’s commitment to their work and co-operation in the working organisation. High in knowledge and skilled staff gives high quality products and services in the flexible environment (Eichhorst and Marx, 2011).

Behavioural outcomes-Ethics and cultural values are stated in this dimension according to Guest model. The employees should give his effort and motivation in work and should be willing to take the responsibilities and should be answerable to the management.

Performance outcomes- In this individuals performance should be measured with the organisational performance so that every employee have feeling that they belong to the organisation.

Financial outcomes-This dimension defines the expected profits and returns on investment and then compared with the actual (Bratton and Gold, 2012).

By using this model of HRM the management of  hotel Marriot will have many benefits like less absenteeism due to flexibility in the organisation, turnover would be reduced of the experienced staff, recruitment would be easy and need and capabilities of the staff would be known to HR department of Marriot. For example, hotel Marriot is obtaining the feedback from the staff members towards the process and approach of the organisation. This type of step helps Marriot management to understand the need of the staff and offers them facilities. The objective of the model is proper utilization of HR with higher quality and commitment with reduction in cost. Storey’s definitions of HRM, personnel and IR practices

Storey has defined HRM as the management approach that seeks to take a competitive advantage through deployment of qualified workforce, using cultural, ethical and personnel techniques. He has distinguished the definition in two forms i.e. hard form and soft form of HRM. Hard form emphasis on need to manage the people to achieve competitive advantage and soft form means treating employees as a valuable asset, source to achieve competitive advantage by employee’s commitments and adaptability (Bunse.et.al. 2011). Storey Personnel Management (PM) can be defined as management of employees to follow rules according to the requirement of the owners of the business. Personnel management basically includes selection, recruitment, determination of pay rolls and employment laws. It is separate function from general management as its main focus on human management.

IR practices maintain the effectiveness of management decisions and activities according to current scenario. The HR department of hotel Marriott follows the activity proposed by storey. They emphasise the need of employees and provide work flexibility. HRM is a modern approach of the PM whereas IR is the common practices are HRM and PM. In most of the organization, PM is replaced by the HRM as seen in hotel Marriot. The basic difference between PM/IR and HRM:

Table 1: Difference between HRM and Personal management

The model of storey provide better opportunities for employees promotion, their involvement in decision making and contribution in the task as a team for which hotel Marriott is able to provide better services to its clients and gaining competitive advantages over its competitors in similar line of business (Cummings and Worley, 2014). Implications for line manager and employees for developing the strategic approach Implications for line manager and staff are critical as it’s their responsibility to execute the plan. Hotel Marriot has the various benefits of using line manager in their business such as line manager is technically qualified and provide expertise in people management in day to day work, maintains operating cost efficiently, allocate the work to the operational level, check their performances and report to the higher level of management and take corrective actions, they deal with customer directly and developing their people.

Apart from the above, the role of the employees of the hotel Marriot is changed and they are also capable to take greater responsibility by performing in ever changing environment with continuous improvement. This type of initiatives is helping the hotel and line manager to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the services they are providing to customers. And job security, employees collaboration, proper communication, reward for better performance, employees innovations and their feedback reduces chances of error and frustration which shows their performances in team work in the Hotel Marriot (Edgar and Geare, 2015). The training which is provided to the staff of the hotel can also help to achieve competitive advantage to the hotel. However the hotel Marriot is following the international process for managing the human resources but improper communication and unplanned work can affect the services of the hotel and for this the line manager is responsible for communicating the information as when required to the targeted audience.

Task 2

2.1 Model of flexibility for Marriot Hotel

Flexibility refers to an ability of an organisation to assign roles and responsibilities to employees within the company. In the changing business environment the concept of flexibility plays a vital role in HRM thinking, providing justifications etc. The need for flexibility arises due to changes in social environment for example increasing in female participation ratio and also due to change in frequent government policy so that there could reduction in unemployed ratio. There are basically four type of model of flexibility that any company seeks. But hotel Marriott uses functional flexibility model in his hotel industry. Functional flexibility refers to firm’s ability to use the ability of the skilled employees to match with the changing workload. This can be done by assigning multitasking to the skilled staff which increases efficiency and reduces cost in long run. Hotel Marriot uses the same strategy in his business and the main purpose of applying this model to increase the efficiency and skills of the employee relation to the maximum and assign them responsibilities so that they can face any changes in the flexible and diverging environment (Atkinson and Hall, 2011). 

However flexibility helps industry to survive, gain competitive advantages and achieve the goals, mission and objectives of the organisation. It’s all depends upon the employers and employees relationship that how and when they implement or adapt the changes and communicate to each other requirements in the industry. There are other models of flexibility which can also be used by the Hotel Marriot like numerical flexibility that allow firms ability to adjust the level of labour inputs to meet fluctuations in output. Its means there are different models of flexibility which can be used by Hotel Marriott and flexible model would be beneficial to Hotel Marriott.

2.2 Types of flexibility

In current scenario, flexible working arrangements can be beneficial to the business in many ways. For example: increased productivity, job commitments, reducing the cost of recruitment and training. The Hotel Marriott can use following types of flexibility that will have a positive impact on their business. There are two types of flexibility:

Functional flexibility-it’s the firm’s ability to use skilled employees in the changing workload by providing flexible working arrangements such as flexible working hours, job sharing, part time work, compressed working schedules, working from home, special arrangements for senior aged staff etc. can be prove to be very useful. This is designed to improve efficiency and reduce cost as manager has extra staff for performing the similar task (Atkinson and Hall, 2011). The main area of traditional conflict is the division of labour between skilled and unskilled labour. Numerical flexibility- it’s the firm’s ability to adjust the level of labour by putting people on a different contract to ensure the fluctuation in the demand of the employees. The common types of numerical flexibility are:

Part time working, (b) temporary/fixed term contracts, (c) subcontracting.

Numerical flexibility is mainly used in construction contracts where labour is used basically. However, hotel Marriot can use the numerical flexibility in their hotel business too. In current scenario the hotel Marriott is using the functional flexibility but by using numerical flexibility it can manage the changes in the number of employees to meet the requirement of the business operations. Hotel Marriott can easily manage the supply and demand activity by hiring talented staff for the short term when the demand is higher or can release the employees to overcome the economic conditions. It’s all depending on the HR management of the hotel to use the type of flexibility which is more beneficial to the business (Wright and Snell, 2012).

2.3 Use of flexibility for both employees and employers

Flexibility is important in any organisation irrespective of size and type of organisation. For both employees and employer flexibility may be different in the hotel Marriott. Workplace flexibility for employees prove to be more productive, their physical and mental improves, reduces stress, reduces negative impact, improves work life balances, improves work family balances and they are more engaged to their work. The hotel Marriott staff could use the flexibility in their operations and get comfortable with the work by seeking the help of managers so that they can timely delivers their services to clients. Flexibility in the business provides inner satisfaction to the staff members and as well improve the level of completion of their work and learn new things easily (Eichhorst and Marx, 2011). Team working is the most elements in the hotel Marriott to achieve the objectives and higher profits.

Employers also needs flexibility in the business for developing the skills of staffs and make the right decisions at the right time for example in hotel Marriott if there is a peak season whether there is sufficient staff to fulfil the needs of the clients and provide better services to the clients and if staff is not there whether the available staff able to do multitasking. In this workplace flexibility plays important role, the employers should have skills to groom or turn the employees according to the needs of the business. And employer’s decision is also important in flexibility.

2.4 Impact of changes in the labour market of flexibility

Labour market flexibility refers to the willingness of the labour to respond to market conditions that includes changes in demand and rate of the labour. Flexible labour market quickly adjusts to the competitive scenario. The factors such as easy to hire staff, easy labour mobility and no government intervention are useful to the organisation.  Human resource is an important asset to any organisation for the growth and effectiveness. Hotel Marriott is running in geographical area and hiring staff from the local area so that they can be friendly to client’s culture and language and their needs. Even after providing the flexible environment the hotel Marriott is facing difficulty of the skilled labour due to offering of wages as other organisation are offering higher wages. This would have a negative impact on the hotel. However hotel Marriott is facing higher labour turnover which can be overcome by hiring qualified skilled staff by offering attractive wages and timely promotions, incentives and friendly business environment by considering their needs (Eichhorst and Marx, 2011).

The factors that affecting the labour are wage rates, skills and training, barriers to entry and exit, workloads etc. However the HR management of hotel Marriott is aware of the situation but are lacking behind. Apart from that, hotel Marriott is using flexibility model which is useful to overcome their problems. The hotel is trying the strategy to attract the skilled labour in the positive approach. The technological changes have both positive and negative impact on the labour. There are changes which cannot be easily taken by the employees although hotel Marriott is spending huge money on training the employees and providing security to employees and special benefits to senior aged employees, after retirement policy, equal participation of women and men in the every strategy of business.

Need help?

Get Complete Solution From Best Locus Assignment Experts.

Place an order

Task 3

3.1 Forms of discrimination at workplace

Discrimination at workplace happens when an employee is treated unfavourably because of his gender, age, colour, religion or castes etc. It is unfair to judge any employee on discrimination. Therefore workplace discrimination extends beyond hiring and firing. According to analysis following forms of discrimination has been identified in the hotel Marriott:

Age discrimination-age discrimination is specifically prohibited by law. Companies are restricted to base their preferences on age. Every employee must receive the same benefits irrespective of the age. The only exceptions there are supplemented benefits which are provided to young workers as compared to old age workers.

Gender discrimination-companies are forbidden to discriminate the gender when paying salary to men or women having the same qualification (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). This type of discrimination leads to high turnover of labour and thus effecting the industry overall. For example denying or disrupting the use of company facilities, denying maternity leave to women etc.

Religious discrimination- hotel management should respect every employee’s religion, beliefs as long as doing so doesn’t have negative consequences. And it is illegal for employers to discriminate any employee on the bases of religion. The major impact of this discrimination is seen while selection, training and promotions of employees.

3.2 Implications of Equal opportunity legislation

It prohibits discrimination in employment or in education and training on the ground of age, disability, marriage, race, maternity and pregnancy, sexual orientation etc. It emphasize on equal allocation of resources in organisation for development (Pitts, 2009). The act outlays seven new implications in addition to those of gender and marital status. Single parents, gay people, older workers and those with disabilities have equal opportunity to promotions and jobs etc. The act also defines sexual harassment and harassment for the first time and the employers are liable for the same if they have not taken any steps i.e. reasonably practicable in that situation. However the success of the provision depends on the social, political and economic factors.

Hotel Marriott is following the provision of equality act and regulation has a positive impact on the organisation as it provides equal right to every employee. In case of discrimination, employees can approach court and take legal action. Generally the discrimination in organisations is based age, race, religion etc. But implementation of this act brings better opportunities for the staff. As there is no discrimination, equal growth opportunities are offered to employees which results in increased competition among the employee which helps in better service quality for hotel Marriott. The major implications that have been identified are the brand image of the top management as well as the respect for the operational staff of the hotel.

3.3 Comparison of diversity and equal opportunity approaches

The concept of diversity and equal opportunity are different approaches and has different impact on the hotel Marriott. Diversity includes acceptance, respect and understanding that each individual is different and unique. Managing diversity is the process of managing the heterogeneous workforce in terms of sexuality, gender and disability. This approach includes training and educating the employees to help them to boost their morale and confidence. Whereas equal opportunity aims to ensure that equal opportunity should be given to every staff irrespective of any type of discrimination. Diversity approach focuses on differences (Dobbin, 2009). If hotel Marriott is employing diversity workforce it is beneficial to organisations as well as stakeholders. This strategy link between internal and external contract law and give better understanding of demographic as well as marketplace.

For example the marketing department of the hotel Marriott with diversified staff has a better understanding of the market and demand of the customers that which type of food they preferred. The working aspects of such workforce show better productivity, profits and returns. Whereas in equal opportunity it does not focus on differences, its only focus on equal opportunity regardless of age, gender etc. Although differences exist in people but it is ignored in this approach. For example in hotel Marriot it should not be assumed that men are more committed to their jobs as compared to women staff just because it is assumed that women take more leave as compared to men (Barak, 2013). For hotel Marriot, it is important to have a equal opportunity approach as it having a huge number of staff that are following the direction given by the management. These type of approach helps to improve the performance of staff and thus building the brand image of the hotel Marriott.

Task 4

4.1 Methods of managing the performance

For hotel organization it is important to evaluate the performance of staff members to analyze the issues and offer training and guideline for improvement. The HR manager of Marriot hotel is using the following methods of managing and evaluating the performance of staff members:

360 degree method: This is an effective method of evaluating and considering the contribution of individual staff members in services of hotel organization. According to this method, HR manager of Marriot is collecting feedback from the peers, customers and senior management of the staff and analyzing the performance of staff (Kalleberg, 2013). This kind of performance management method is helping organization to gain the in-depth information about the effectiveness of employee in communication, decision making and utilization of resources and follow-up of standard as well as behaviour. By considering the feedback, HR manager is developing the plan for individual for training and development which has positive impact on the services of organization.

Rating method: According to this method, HR manager of hospitality organization is evaluating the performance and contribution of individual as per the benchmarking standard sated for individual. In addition to this, manager is collecting the real time feedback from customers about the interaction, offering of services and behaviour of staff. By considering the feedback, manager is determining the rating for individual on the basis of standards of organization and managing the performance through training and providing effective guideline.

4.2 Welfare approaches used by Marriot

Approaches to employee welfare refer to the belief and attitude that held by the agencies that monitor and determine the welfare facilities for employees.  According to analysis of organizational approach of Marriot, it is been considered that the major objectives of welfare are providing the better life and health to the staff, make them happy and satisfied and meet their needs and requirements by using the corrective measurements. The focus of organization is on health, efficiency, economic growth and improvement in the social statues of staff members. The HR manager of Marriot hotel is evaluating the welfare activities of organization and making the changes in the functions to retain the staff (Kirton and Greene, 2015). The welfare approach of hospitality organization involves safe working environment, flexible time shift, leaves and healthy working environment for staff members.

By managing and offering the facilities, organization is looking to craft improvement in the performance and satisfaction level of staff members. Following are major facilities that organization is offering to the staff members for welfare:

Intramural: This refers to internal facilities at workplace to meet the needs of the staff members which involve medical facility, compensation, and drinking water, healthy and clean environment as well safety of the working staff. For that, HR manager is monitoring the facilities and taking actions to maintain the welfare facilities.

Extramural facilities: This kind of welfare approach involves management and effectiveness of external facilities for welfare that involve implementation of services and provision that proposed by government and higher authorities of hospitality industry (Eichhorst and Marx, 2011). The major focus of this approach is on accommodation, education, welfare of family members of staff.

4.3 Implication of health and safety legislation on human resource

Marriot is one of the most preferred hospitality chains of hospitality industry that operating business at different location of world. For welfare and protection of staff members, management is following the health and safety legislations. These legislations have significant impact on the practices of human resources (Wright and McMahan, 2010). For example, by implementation of health and safety regulation Marriot is looking to provide better working conditions for staff members that influencing the performance of individual. Accordion to analysis, major implications that has been identified through health and safety measurements are enhancement on the contribution of staff, minimization of risk in the operational activities and positive working environment that is helping to maintain the flow of functions.

For managing the human resources, health and safety measurements and establishment of tools and technology influence the involvement of staff in the planning and implementation of functions. It is helping the business development approach of Marriot as clarity in functions as well proper utilization of resources has positive impact on the human resources planning of hospitality organization.

4.4 Impact of other topical issues

Marriot hotel HR department is looking to craft improvement in the human resources practices of organization but there are some issues in current standard of HRM that are affecting the practices and operations of hotel. Following are the major topical issues that have significant impact on the human resources practice of Marriot.

Technology: In the current scenario, use of technical tools is essential for organization to maintain and monitor the services of staff and meet the desired standard. In spite of that, lack of understanding and utilization of tools is one major topical issue for Marriot human resources practices that affecting communication and training process for staff. In-convince of information and accuracy is key issue that affecting the overall planning and practices of HR in Marriot.

E-recruitment:In e-recruitment is the process by which the organisation recruits the candidates through electronic resources. Internet is the key resource for e-recruitment. The human resource team screens the resumes of the potential candidates (Snell.et.al. 2015). The interviews of candidates are taken through telephone and video conferencing. Shortlisted candidates are called to office for a final interview.

Flexible benefits: Marriott hotel provides several benefits like variable shift times; maternal leaves etc which affects the satisfaction level of employees. By offering flexible benefits, organization is able to retain the employees as they are satisfied.

Conclusion

From the study, it is been considered that managing human resources is major tasks for HR department of organization to maintain the effectiveness in services as well planning of the operational activities. Report has discussed about the HRM and personnel management as well provided information about the implication of HRM on line manager and staff members. In the next part report has explained flexibility model and its impact on the human resources practices of Marriot hotel. At the end, report has analyzed the performance management approaches and topical issues that have direct impact on the human resources practices of organization.

References

Books and journals              

Atkinson, C. and Hall, L., 2011. Flexible working and happiness in the NHS.Employee Relations, 33(2), pp.88-105..
Bamberger, P.A., Biron, M. and Meshoulam, I., 2014. business strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.
Barak, M.E.M., 2013. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications.
Bobbitt-Zeher, D., 2011. Gender discrimination at work connecting gender stereotypes, institutional policies, and gender composition of workplace.Gender & Society, 25(6), pp.764-786.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bunse, K., Vodicka, M., Schönsleben, P., Brülhart, M. and Ernst, F.O., 2011. Integrating energy efficiency performance in production management–gap analysis between industrial needs and scientific literature. Journal of Cleaner Production, 19(6), pp.667-679.
Cummings, T. and Worley, C., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage learning.
Dobbin, F., 2009. Inventing equal opportunity. Princeton University Press.
Edgar, F. and Geare, A., 2015. HRM practice and employee attitudes: different measures-different results. Personnel review, 34(5), pp.534-549.
Eichhorst, W. and Marx, P., 2011. Reforming German labour market institutions: A dual path to flexibility. Journal of European Social Policy,21(1), pp.73-87.
Kalleberg, A.L., 2013. Book review symposium: Response to Reviews of Arne L Kalleberg, Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the United States, 1970s to 2000s.Work, Employment & Society, 27(5), pp.896-898.
Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Routledge.
Pitts, D., 2009. Diversity management, job satisfaction, and performance: Evidence from US federal agencies. Public Administration Review, 69(2), pp.328-338.