The Name of the School
Introduction
Background and Objectives
It is essential to the success of any company to have a human resource management plan in place. In a highly labor-intensive industry such as hospitality, companies often refer to their employees and clients as their “greatest asset.” In some areas, hospitality, travel, and tourism jobs provide an opportunity to work in a high-status environment with attractive pay and benefits and low rates of employee turnover. However, on the opposite side of the same coin, many workers experience adverse working conditions, low pay, and high turnover rates.
Within the hospitality industry, organizations and managers often face difficulties in hiring and maintaining a well motivated, competent workforce. It is highly important that managers set an example of good practice and proper policy response in order to develop enthusiasm and strong work ethic in their employees. The role of a human resource manager is to promote a safe work environment, which will in turn foster employee morale. The human resource manager is one of the key players in ensuring an organization's success. By helping to keep the rate of employee turnover low, the human resources manager affects the level of service that a company is able to provide to its customers.
The job description of human resource managers is dynamic and diverse. They are responsible for providing opportunities for professional development. They help make employees feel as if they are appreciated, and recognize their contributions. They augment the company's or organization's image, increasing retention rates and drawing in talented workers. By making the work environment better for employees, they help improve the customer experience as well. In addition, human resource managers handle risk and identify resources to minimize and control the impact of unfortunate events.
A human resource manager may be required to take on many roles within his or her company and must have a broad, yet intimate understanding of the needs of the employee group. As well, he or she must ensure that employees and supervisors alike understand the policies and procedures of the organization. An effective human resource manager may have significant influence over the culture of the workplace.
In this report, we endeavor to determine whether the productivity of an organization that specializes in hospitality can be maximized through the involvement of the human resource division. The key function of an HR department in the hospitality industry is to encourage people to work according to their potential and suggest ways that they can bring about improvements in their performance. A company whose human resource division interacts fluently with its other employees will reap the benefits of a more engaged and proficient workforce.
Methodology
We believe that employee satisfaction and organizational productivity are highly correlated. Studies have indicated that employees that feel low satisfaction with their job are less productive and have higher absence rates than employees who are happy with their work (Corporate Leadership Council, 2003). In addition, the same studies found that when employee satisfaction is high, so is the rate of customer retention. This leads to stronger financial performance for the company (Corporate Leadership Council, 2003).
In order to gauge employee satisfaction at my company, we will design and administer worker satisfaction surveys that will aim to identify any issues that are interfering with employees' ability to enjoy their work experience. These surveys will contain statements that the employee will read and then rate on a scale of 1 to 5, a score of 1 indicating strong disagreement and a score of 5 indicating strong agreement. The statements will cover a range of factors affecting work satisfaction, including the employees' relationship with their supervisor and the quality of the communication between them; whether they like their job, and feel that they have opportunities for growth; whether they feel that their pay is competitive and that they work toward clear goals; whether they think that their contributions are valued and respected; and finally, whether they have confidence in the leadership.
Company Profile
I am working as an intern in the front office department at the Mövenpick Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. The Mövenpick Hotel is a 5-star hotel and casino located near the Geneva International Aiport and the Palexpo Exhibition Center. The facility boasts high standards of comfort for its 350 rooms, as well as a piano bar, Japanese and international restaurants, and an entire floor dedicated to conference rooms.
Literature Review
Human resource management plays a strategic role in the operation of the hotel. As any organization in the hospitality industry caters chiefly to people, a good human resource department will endeavor to recruit and train workers who enjoy serving others, in order to achieve a high level of customer service. One of the ways in which a competent and willing workforce is created is by ensuring that wages are commensurate with other similar organizations within the industry. By offering competitive pay rates and substantial benefits, the human resource manager attracts high quality workers and minimizes the turnover rate.
The human resource department of a company does not operate in isolation from the other departments. Rather, it is influenced by several forces that come from within and without the organization, including, but not limited to, the economic, technological, and legal conditions of the environment in which the company is founded. However, there is generally thought to be a “best practice” set of human resource management practices that will benefit the organization in all situations, regardless of context (Devinney, Richard, Yip, & Johnson, 2005).
The best practice model of human resource management (heretofore referred to as HRM), as described by Jeffrey Pfeffer in 1998, is now widely recognized. The elements of the best practice model include job security, selective hiring, team working and decentralization (in which tasks are distributed evenly amongst the workers, or as much so as possible), high wages, extensive training, and employee involvement. Finally, the difference in status among team members should be relatively narrow (Pfeffer, 1998, p. 205).
Unfortunately, there is no definition from authority of best practice that has been unanimously agreed upon by practitioners or academics. There are only models that have been proposed by individuals within the field of HRM. This has led to a lack of descriptive clarity. However, there are several definitions that have emerged over the past decades that capture the underlying elements of HRM best practice. According to one theory, “best practice or high performance work practices are described as HR methods and systems that have universal, additive, and positive effects on organizational performance (Devinny, Yip, & Johnson, 2009, n.p.).”
Human resource officers are responsible for monitoring and benchmarking performance. In benchmarking, a comparison is made using specific performance indicators between one organization and others within the same industry that are considered the top of their class. It is important that the comparison is not limited to only competitors, but to complementary organizations. Benchmarking a company that is renown for being a good model within the industry is an example of business excellence. For example, an organization such as the one I work for, the Mövenpick Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, may compare its performance indicators to those of the Ritz Carlton Luxury Hotel Company, since it is considered a standard of excellence among luxury hotel chains.
There are many advantages to using benchmarking as a performance evaluation tool. One advantage is that it can be used as a calibration (Go, Monachello, & Baum, 1996). Any shortcomings or failures within the organization can be accounted for and improved upon by basis of comparison with another company that models best practices. Benchmarking enables a company to learn from the mistakes and successes of another company. It also promotes an active learning environment. When workers are actively engaged, they are more willing to take responsibility for the quality of their performance. In contrast, when workers are passive and disengaged, they will feel less responsible for the outcomes of their work and will tend to blame others for their shortcomings. A benchmark of performance creates a tool to help motivate people to change, to help determine priorities, and to initiate a program of focused work.
In order to adopt a process of benchmarking, the HRM officer must complete a number of tasks. First of all, the HRM officer should compose an audit team, which will evaluate how well objective criteria are being met. To complete their job to the best of their ability, the audit team is required to be independent and impartial in their analysis.
In any job that relies on customer satisfaction, there are bound to be differences in the level of performance presumed to be supplied and the level of performance actually supplied. In the case of the job satisfaction rate supplied by this actual job, there appear to be many jobs that provide good experience and that help create positive change within the industry of hospitality; these jobs not only create new earning opportunities to earners, they lead to focused career programs that help move the company in a forward direction from its current position.
Application of Theories
The theories of best practice in human resource management can be adopted and applied in the hotel industry in order to ensure the best quality of service for both employees and customers. Having a best practice strategy in place will benefit skilled workers and will allow for greater flexibility in the workplace. In addition, a high commitment approach to employment within the hotel and hospitality industry will help prepare managers to invest in risky change.
There are certain barriers to the adoption of a high commitment, best practice plan. When a company is not successful in implementing their plan, they will not be prepared to invest in risky change. The best practice plan may also have financial limitations in that it is to costly personally to implement. Sometimes, the plan requires a skill or expertise that employees do not possess or which is not their forte. Also, in some cases it may be challenging to convince the employees that a more committed culture and less bureaucratic style of management is the best option. Employees may not “buy into” the human resource management plan suggested by the human resource officer.
There may be a difference between the best fit perspective of human resource management and the best practice perspective, which can conflict with a best practice plan. According to a best fit perspective, the reward system of the firm or company should be arranged to support the organization's underlying business strategy, in order to confer a competitive advantage to the company. However, the best practice perspective generally asserts that a singly bundle of human resource policies including the reward system should lead to a staff that is highly motivated and committed to service and who are key to the competitive advantage of the company. In other words, the best fit perspective treats the reward system as a factor in the competitive advantage of the company, while the best practice perspective treats workers themselves as a competitive advantage. Having differing perspectives on this issue among and between managers can lead to conflict.
All companies must have a business strategy, but they must also have a human resource strategy. The key is to find the human resource strategy that harmonizes with the company's business strategy. Alternatively, a company may decide upon a human resource strategy and then choose a business strategy that complements it. In the hotel industry, it may confer an advantage to choose a human resource strategy before deciding on a business model, since employees are frequently considered to be the most important asset in this industry.
According to Edward Lawler, all companies should start with a business strategy and follow with a human resource strategy. This is because “it specifies what the company wants to accomplish, how it wants to behave, and the kinds of performance and performance levels it must demonstrate to be effective (Lawler, 1995, p. 14).” Since a business strategy drives organizational behavior, it is considered the litmus test for the development of a reward system.
However, according to Milkovich and Newman, a superior human resource plan will influence the adoption of the business strategy. “These superior human resources will, in turn, influence the strategy the organization adopts and is the source of its competitive advantage (Milkovich & Newman, 2002, p. 30).” This implies that policy should proceed strategy.
Within the tourism, hotel, and hospitality industries, there is a diverse range of employment experiences. For example, most hotels employ a front desk clerk whose duties are entirely separate from the duties of housekeeping personnel. It is important, therefore, to keep this in mind when formulating a human resource management plan that encompasses all the employees of a company. In addition, hotels tend to employ on a part-time basis more so than other industries(Baum, 1995). It is equally important that the work of part time employees is recognized and appreciated, as well as the work of full time employees.
Conclusion
A worker satisfaction survey will accomplish the goals of understanding the unique issues workers face and measuring the mutual trust and respect between employees and their supervisors. It is recommended that the surveys be brought to the two-week training course and distributed at the end of the final session. In response to the surveys, each department should develop action plans to address core HRM areas, including supervisory skills, employee turnover, worker satisfaction, and incentive and benefit structures.
Within a six month period, specific action plans should be established and implemented. Managers should aim to reduce the number of workers reporting dissatisfaction with the attitude and behavior of their direct supervisor as much as possible, but should set realistic goals within reasonable time frames. A reduction by between 15 percent to 5 percent is a manageable goal.
In addition, depending on the results of the worker satisfaction surveys, targeted training for supervisors should be made mandatory. This training should encompass trust and respect, leadership, company policies, and grievance systems. Among workers on the shop floor, training should be offered to increase technical skill.
In the hotel, tourism, and hospitality industries, employees are the most important asset. They interact directly with the company's clients and are the face of the company. By ensuring their satisfaction with their work and fostering an inviting work atmosphere, hotels can deliver better services and improve the quality of their product.
Works Cited
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