Hilton and Holiday Inn Human Resource strategy and Operational planning

Hilton and Holiday Inn Human Resource strategy and Operational planning Introduction The essay will explore the theoretical and practical sides of the relationship between the Human Resource strategy and the Operational planning and development in the retail and hospitality industry, in order to determine a deep overall view of the subject. The text will draw upon many cases, research, and literature to demonstrate the background that is necessary for an independent evaluation of this topic. The paper will take Hilton and Holiday Inn as an example of todays average but highly successful corporation and investigate the companys past and current human resource strategies and the reasons behind their strategic decisions. Through the essay; human capital management, business performance, model of comparative SHRM, strategy evaluation, HR links between missions, as well as goals of the organizations and further related topics; will be discussed. The essay is divided by nine major topics. Certain topics will be examined in greater detail for more accurate understanding, ho wever as SHRM indicates every topic will also deeply link together and therefore specific parts on certain subjects will be discussed in other topics. Hard definition SHRM can be defined as the connection between HR, strategic objectives and goals in order to increase productivity or efficiency and create business culture that promotes flexibility, innovation, and competitive advantage. In a corporation, Strategic Human Resource Management means accepting and involving the Human Resource roles as a strategic partner in the formulation and implementation of the organisations strategies through Human Resource functions such as staffing, selecting, training and rewarding employees. (Mello, 2010) Recruitment linked with operational strategy The first area of focus is on the process of accurate staffing, management, and organisation of a business through human resource functions. Businesses are able to create a highly effective strategic framework as it will be uniquely personalised for their exact situation. This is by recognising the portfolio of the corporation at the operational, managerial and strategic level, rather than arranging the human resource department to reflect the strategic, managerial and operational requirements of the organisation (Hamel and Prahalad, 1996: 242). The most important structural variations of the corporation also stand on the corporations recruiting procedure. Position posting, succession forecasting and management development offer the HR department a chance to bring a measure of integration to the recruiting procedure and to have power over the internal movement of the corporations human resources. It is especially significant that staffing for all levels of positions, as well as the d omestic movement of employees, be coordinated with the strategic concerns of the business (Baron Kreps, 1999). The portfolio of the business will make a significant input to the progress of a businesses recruiting strategy; it is one of the driving forces in the staffing, promotion plans program development and selection. Management between the businesses recruiting and its strategic plans can improve the businesses ability to get used to environmental conditions. However businesses are likely to recruit people who have similar characteristics to the managers who are presently working within it. Little conscious attention is paid to identifying the characteristics most congruent with different organizational configurations. (Galbraith and Nathanson,1978). Employee skill and behaviour training Many businesses, including local shops in Edinburgh owned by the Asian community, have faced the challenge of developing greater confidence, solution finding, initiative, and trouble solving capabilities among their employees. This has become a serious problem (Megginson Banfield Matthews, 1999) as those convenient stores are the backbone of the economy (Dr. Welsh, 2000). Businesses need employees at every level to be more resourceful, independent, creative and self sufficient. These characteristics allow employees to function at a superior strategic level, making businesses more competitive and productive. Therefore, they require training development which includes all activities intended and executed to support staff members knowledge, abilities (or competencies) and skills. For organizations, training and development especially relates to those activities that make sure that every staff member is capable enough to build a work environment that is both inclusive and diverse. In addition to supporting abilities, skills and knowledge; several training and development plans associated with diversity efforts to influence the attitudes, maturity, courage or values of their members, are also necessary for the development of strategic and managerial capabilities. It should be noted that training and development plans that try to make major adjustments with regard to attitudes need a large amount of time and investment if they are to be successful. However each individual training undergone is a kind of long term investment, therefore determining the return on investments when conducting training and development activities, are very important. There are several kinds of training options. Mentoring, Coaching and Counselling are the most well known ones. Although many of the methods are similar within these training options as they are normally delivered by individuals, there are numerous unique characteristics of each method that make them exclusive in their own wa y other than the fact that the individual has different qualifications, different relationships with their client and is usually working within different time frames (Megginson, Banfield Matthews, 1999) Employee Empowerment As it has been mentioned earlier, companies try to train their staff to be more self-sufficient so that less supervision would be required; or in other words, empower them. Employee empowerment is an expression used to express the ways in which employees without managerial positions can make independent decisions with no need of confirmation from a boss or manager. These independent decisions can be small or large depending on the level of power with which the organisation wants to invest in the member of staff. Personnel empowerment can start with training, as stated above, and by converting a whole business into an empowerment model. On the other hand it may simply mean giving staff members the ability to make a few decisions on their own. When people feel they have options and are allowed to make direct decisions, this does frequently show the way to a better feeling of self worth. In a representation where power is directly attached to a sense of self, the feeling of having some power is a priceless thing (Losey Ulrich Meisinger, 2005). A staff member who does not feel continuously evaluated by managers and watched is more likely to consider their workplace as a positive, happy environment, rather than a negative one. Employee Commitment The behavioural research, carried out by a group at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, recognizes the aspects that most possible to affect 21st century staff well being, productivity and commitment. (PhD. Kreisman, 2002). They established that loyalty is mainly influenced by ones sense of purpose, general trust in the business and feeling of individual impact. Productivity is mostly affected by the quality of human relations including social group moods, cooperative and interaction. The results of the investigation guided them to conclude that working environments that offer positive atmosphere that encourage quality personal relationships and interpersonal trust generates the most loyal and productive staff members. So a staff member who does not feel continuously watched by managers is more likely to judge their workplace as a positive environment, as it has been said before, therefore he or she will feel more committed to the organisation. This would increase t heir productivity, as peoples efforts generate greater results. In conclusion, this would cut cost for the organisation. (Losey Ulrich Meisinger, 2005) Mutual flexibility Last year a much respected five star Hilton hotel recruited front line staff for part time positions. From week one Hiltons management required them to work 65 hours even when indeed they had a contract for 25 hours per week. They were unable to do anything about this unfortunate situation as it was clear that if they could not fit their schedules they were free to leave. By the end of the 3rd month when their training had finished, many of them were exhausted and fed up, and they left the Hilton group for their leak of flexibility (Mehta, 2005). Flexibility is essential for both the employer and the employee; flexibility of staff member behaviours, workers skills and Human Resource practices stand for a significant sub dimension of Human Resource flexibility and are associated with greater business performance. Results based on perceptual methods of Human Resource flexibility and accounting measures of business performance support this prediction. Behaviour, skill, and Human Resourc e practice flexibility are, however, drastically connected with an index of business financial performance. Numerous professionals believe that the only skill that flexibility contributes is its cost efficiency. (Hendry, 1995) Hilton has recruited them because they were looking for people who go the extra mile; people who are flexible. The fact that Hilton did not give anything to them in return meant that these people left. Despite this, their worth and value has increased as the result of the training that Hilton gave them, while Hilton lost a significant amount of money. In the Hospitality business, staff turnover is the biggest problem because in the service industry, staff represent the biggest cost and long time investment at the same time. This means that when companies start to train their staff they integrate them into the business even if they are not core employees. When they leave however, all the money and time put in will be lost, not to mention the cost of the ongoing posting of jobs, interviews and other administrational fees (Hayes Ninemeier, 2008). Human Capital versus SHRM A several authors have argued that SRHM and Human Capital Management are the same thing. Certainly the idea of SHRM matches that of the broader meaning of HCM relatively well; as the following characterisation of the key features of SHRM by Dyer and Holder (1998) demonstrate that strategies engage decisions regarding main policies, key goals and the allowance of resources that are likely to be formulated at the top. Strategies are business determined and focus on organisational efficiency; thus in this perspective, are viewed mainly as resources to be managed toward the success of strategic business targets (Society for Human Resource Management, 2004). Strategies by their very nature offer combined frameworks which are at once integrative, broad and possibility based. These integrate a full complement of Human Resource targets and activities intended exclusively to fit existing environments and to be equally reinforcing or synergistic. This sections discussion has been based on the evidence that both Human Resource Management in its appropriate sense and Human Capital Management, rest on the supposition that employees are treated as assets rather than expenses and both focus on the significance of adopting an incorporated and strategic move towards managing employees which is the worry of every stakeholder in a business, not only the staff management function. On the other hand, the theory of HCM strengthens and complements the theory of SHRM rather than replaces it. Therefore both Human Capital Management and Strategic Human Resource Management can be considered as crucial components in the progression of staff management and both form the basis for accomplishing HR advantage through a resource based strategy (Greer, 2000). Soft HRM versus Hard HRM The effort to satisfy external stakeholders and the costumers demanding nature lead to a pressure on HR management both strategically and operationally side. (York, 2009) Customer service and associated perceptions have led retail businesses and hospitality to a more theoretical judgment of HR management. In the long term it is left to be seen whether the strategic management of HR has been better regulated by hard Human Resource Management, which is the traditional managerial distrust approach. Humans are lazy by nature and simply pursue their self-interests. This means that there are two different and conflicting sets of interests: the organisation and its employees. It is the managements job to encourage the right attitude in staff members so that their actions pursue the accomplishment of the organisations goals, not their own. Thus there is a case for the existence of correctives and coercion. (Megginson 1999), On the other hand there is the soft Human Resource Management or in other name the Harvard model which is the opposed approach. Instead of seeing humans as lazy machines, they are seen as able to take care of their feelings, emotions and motivations. Employees might in fact wish for personal realisation and work could be one of the ways to achieve it. People like things done well, and making a difference. Managers therefore, must allow them to do so and help them to maintain their high levels of motivation. Employees are not lazy, they do not hate working, and can be self responsible. In this way, coercion is no longer essential (Megginson 1999). Customer Service, (linking) Mayfair London located at the centre of the British Tourism Hospitality Industry and Bass group is a primary hospitality chain. Johnson (1999) examines that the senior managers at Holiday inns carried out a training project that included spending short times at operative levels. This training led them to discover that if front line employees were not given autonomy and authority to solve non routine issues as they came up, their customers belief of quality service would be badly damaged. It is significant to identify the connection between the front line staff, executives and the empowerment of employees to take liability for quality management problems and customer care satisfaction. The corporation then initiated training programs to provide employees with the possibilities to take further liability for problem solving and quality as well as implement new employment strategies, for example auditions for front office staff to differentiate applicants with the right attitudes. The te rm right attitudes suggests that the organization is seeking employees with culturally specified social skills, attributes that are frequently difficult to appraise. These tacit or soft abilities, are skills to carry out complex functions and relationship roles while at the same time, carry out technical (or hard) tasks. (Hayes Ninemeier, 2008). Executives also accept that the success of the new strategies would give a genuine dedication to the interests and welfare of staff. The hotel gained Investors in People recognition in 1995. This section is an excellent example that shows how everything is linked together. The essay previously discusses empowerment, flexibility, commitment, training, customer service and many more things, as this example states; every single area of human resource management effects the entire business progress just as much as one area effects another. Conclusion Business or corporate strategy for service companies in areas such as tourism, hospitality and retail; has to satisfy a variety of stakeholders, and interests them within a strategy framework appropriate to all of them. SHRM has played a part in the consolidation of staff members, within the model established by the executive senior managers. Strategic Human Resource Management is therefore a component of the wider network of business administration and corporate strategy. It is valuable for every corporation to organize their employees within a designed and logical framework which reflects the organisations strategy. It is necessary that the varieties of aspects of HRM are mutually reinforced in developing the behaviours and performance needed to accomplish business success. Every single person is part of the organisation and is partially reliable for the companys success and therefore they represent the biggest asset of a service company. Employees represent one of the biggest cost but they can also represent the greatest competitive advantage against other businesses. Despite this, there is not a single Human Resource Management strategy that would bring success in every situation. Businesses have to identify a strategy which is exceptional to their own circumstances in terms of goals, context and the demands of business stakeholders.

Marketing Reserach

Question â€Å"Marketing Research† Respond to the following: . -Of the marketing research tools identified in the textbook, evaluate those that would be most appropriate for a small business. Textbook=[Iacobucci, D. (2012). MM, 2nd Edition. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning] -When it comes to marketing research, speculate to the blunders that beginning marketers commonly make. Provide a rationale with your response. Answer :- Market research is an effective way to learn about potential customers, their opinions, habits, trends and future plans.It is used to determine the geographic area of a business and demographic characteristics of customers such as age, gender, income and educational level. Marketing research helps a firm identify and solve problems, identify and evaluate market opportunity and develop the effort needed to exploit it. Steps of the Marketing Research Process 1. Identify and Define the Problem/Opportunity – This is the first step in finding a solution; a poor diagnosis will lead to an ineffective solution. 2. Conduct a Preliminary Exploration – Confirming a rejection, the problem as stated by the decision maker is a crucial phase of the research project.In order to do this the researcher must talk to knowledgeable persons both inside and outside the firm. This often gives the researcher a new perspective on the problem. 3. Determine Research Objectives – The earlier steps have given the researcher a better understanding of the problem, and he or she can now begin to formulate hypothesis to fit it. Hypothesis are tentative explanations of a problem, formulated on the basis of weight and knowledge about the problem. The hypothesis may prove to be either right or wrong. 4. Determine Data Needs – Researcher use primary and secondary data.Primary data are originated and collected for a specific problem. They must be generated by original research through observation and/or inquiry. The advantage of such data is that they relate specifically to the problem at hand. In gathering them, new problem may be uncovered and the focus of the research project sharpened. The main disadvantages are the cost and time required to collect them. Secondary data already exist, they are historical data gathered by people either inside or outside the firm to meet their needs.If those needs are similar to the researcher’s needs secondary data can be useful. Although they are cheaper and faster to collect than primary data, their relevance, accuracy, credibility and timeliness must be established before they can be used. 5. Determine Data Sources – The major internal source of primary data is company personals, Retailers, wholesales, customers and competitors are important external sources of primary data. Knowing what primary data are needed gives an indication of who might have them. The major internal source of secondary data is company records.Libraries, trade associations and government publication s are important external sources of secondary data. 6. Create the Research Design – The research design specifies the overall framework and the specific procedures for collecting and analyzing the data. This is the most important step in the research process. Research Design can be classified by function and by methodology. Functional Categories – (a). Exploratory Research. (b). Descriptive Research (c). Casual Research (d). Predictive Research. Methodological Research – (a). Historical (b) Survey (c) Experimental (d) Motivational 7.Collect the Data – Once the researcher has determined data needs, data sources, and the framework and procedures to collect and analyze them, the problem becomes one of searching for and securing data. In collecting data, the researcher implements the research design. For secondary data, a good understanding of internal and external sources is necessary. Primary data, however , must be collected through observation and inquiry . 8. Analyses Data and Convert to Information – The data that have been collected according to the research design must be analyzed and interpreted.This leads the researcher to either accept or reject the research hypothesis After coding and editing, data are analyzed. This involves descriptive responses, calculating averages etc. in order to convert raw data into an understandable form for the purpose of interpreting the data. Tabulation, for example, involves arranging the data in a table, graph, or other summery format to facilitate their interpretation. More sophisticated data analysis techniques may also be used as the research moves beyond the description of the data to sophisticated statistical analysis of them.Cross tabulation is often used to show how variable relates to another variable. 9. Communicate the Information – Communicating research findings to decision makers is a crucial step in a research project because the project will be a failure if the resul ts are not communicated effectively. Among the criteria for judging the quality of a research report are completeness, organization, understandability, interest level, accuracy, clarity, conciseness include : specific sections of the report typically (a) Title page (b) Table of contents (c)Executive summery (d) Introduction (e) Body (f) Conclusions and recommendations and (g) Appendices.

There Is An Additional Bonus Besides The Saving Of Money

There is an additional bonus besides the saving of money in the home vegetable garden cultivation. That is the tenderness and superb flavor of vegetables we harvest and prepare for table use when they are at their very best. Even if the cost were the same, we would happily work our own gardens because we know that those vegetables harvested in commercial fields, shipped to market and then used in the kitchen after a week (or more) has passed, simply cannot be compared in flavor and quality to those we harvest in our own gardens and eat the same day! For a continuous supply, the planting of beans at about two week intervals will keep the table constantly supplied. One packet of Pole Beans will provide enough plants for the Small home†¦show more content†¦http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/growing-a-garden-saves-money-1051338.html If you are a nature lover and enjoy watching a flurry of hummingbirds or a wave of beautiful butterflies fluttering around your yard, a natural choice of landscaping would be butterfly bushes. These beautiful, amazingly delicate bushes will attract nature s tiniest creatures and give you a front row seat for their dancing performances. Butterfly bushes come in a variety of colors that will highlight or accent any garden design. Hues of gold, blue, purple or pink flowers grow rapidly on these hearty green shrubs. Even the most inexperienced gardener will delight in the production of amazing flower s with just nominal care. Butterfly bushes grow rapidly, so one must be careful in selecting the right place to display them. For use in a small flower garden, the butterfly bush should take center attention. It s regal flowers will be a proud display, and a definite eye catcher. Plant the butterfly bush center stage, then add smaller annuals around it. The annuals should be a complimentar y color to the butterfly bush. If your butterfly bush produces dark rich purple flowers, consider adding lighter purple, or even pink, petunia waves in a circle around it. If you want a bolder statement, plant several butterfly bushes of various colors down the side of your flower garden or fence. These plants will grow and come together as aShow MoreRelatedMarketing Strategy : Pricing, Promotion, Distribution, And Distribution Strategy1348 Words   |  6 PagesStudent Loan Company and kid saving account, the price will be compared with these competitor’s prices. The interest rate of Student Loan Company is usually about RPI + 3%, and you can choose how long to pay your rent. On the other hand, children saving account has a high-interest rate and free tax, but it limits the age and has a maximum deposit. 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Nicholas Sparks Movie Adaptions