Human Resource Factor of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts as a Commercial Organisation - Assignment Example

Assessment Activity 1: CIPD Branch Presentation Student’s name Grade course Professor’s name University name 7th December, 2011 Outline: Introduction Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Background information Market review and competition Human resource factor Role of HR in strategy formulation References Introduction The human resource factor has been considered important as organisations try to maximize their profits. Organisations are thus formulating strategies that would help plan the process of realizing high profits. This becomes possible when the goals and objects set by the organization are clear, the business environment is stable, managers and decision makers are able to analyze both internal and external environments. Top managers in an organisation have the responsibility of making decisions while operational managers in respective departments are expected to oversee the implementation process. There are a number of challenges that may exist in the business environment thus calling for the right strategy to overcome the challenges like competition. The various management functions in an organization are finance, purchasing, production, marketing, human resources, administration, research and development. All these functions become operational with the existence of the right human resource factor in place. Every organization will thus require a management structure to function effectively with each employee having a specific role to perform. This paper will focus on human resource factor of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts as a commercial organisation. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Background information The Four Seasons Hotel Inc is an international five star hotel whose headquarter is based in Canada. The company has 86 hotels in 35 countries in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Four Seasons is famous in the provision of accommodation, wedding grounds, residences, meeting planning venues, celebration and events. It was founded by Isadore Sharp in 1960. The founder, an architect by profession was inspired to open his own hotel after he had designed a motel for his family friend. The company has been successful in the global market and has grown to the level of owning 84 chains of properties in the world. This business success has led to the company being named as one of the best companies to work for by the Fortune magazine being ranked at position 53 in 2011 (Miller Vandome & McBrewster 2010, p.29). Four Seasons operates most of the properties it uses on behalf of developers and property owners. The contract between the company and developers allows the company to have almost all powers to design and manage the properties. On return, the company gets 3 percent of the gross income and an additional 5 percent of the profits made in the properties operated by the company. The first hotel was built in Toronto in 1961. In 1970, a developer approached Sharp to build a hotel in London; the hotel was very successful and would compete with established hotels like Claridge’s and The Connaught. In 1974, Sharp discovered that the cost of raising new properties was very expensive when he constructed a property in Vancouver which almost led to the company to collapse. It was after this that the company designed to employ the current business model where the company manages properties on behalf of developers and owners. The company has suffered recently as a result of the global economic recession. In addition, the September 11 attack contributed to reduced travel almost resulting to the collapse of the travel industry. Instead, Four Seasons decided not to reduce the prices of its product in order to preserve the perceived property value for its products. This resulted to increasing tension among the property owners who were making losses. The company’s recovery occurred in 2007 when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Prince Al-waleed of Saudi Arabia purchased 95% of the company at $3.8. The pair thus owns 95 percent of the shares on an equal basis while Sharp own the rest. The 2007-2010 financial crisis posed a major challenge which led to 10 percent of the employees in Toronto to be laid off; this was the first time in history that employees were laid off. Four Seasons won a case in which it had been sued by Broadreach for allegedly changing the management model. The company has continued with its growth with new hotels being opened in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai (Daft 2007, p.56). Market review and competition Within the service industry of the hospitality industry, there are many categories of fields like lodging, event, planning, restaurants, transportation and theme parks. Leisure time and disposable income are two important factors that should be available for the hospitality industry to thrive. When these two factors are available, people visit hospitality units like hotels, amusement parks and restaurant to have fun. There are many organizations that offer accommodation and food within the hospitality industry (Barrows & Powers 2008, p.82). The industry is further divided into sectors depending on the skills of work that are involved. Such sectors include food and beverage, entertainment and recreation, tourism, gaming and accommodation. The demand for lodgings has increased in the recent past as a result of economic recovery from the 2008-2009 economic down turn. Since there are many organisations offering similar products within the hospitality industry, competition is expected as each organisation will tend to maximize its customers. There are expected newcomers in the industry who are likely to create competition depending on the quality of their services (Farnham 2010, p.35). Old industry players tend to take advantage of their strategic locations in addition to ongoing investments in order to maintain their facilities in luxurious condition. This does not assure old firms competitive advantage as new companies may still gain competitive advantage if they improve their services and puts in place effective marketing strategy. Another factor that may influence competitive advantage in an organization is the human personnel who come into direct contact with clients. The professionalism and authenticity of the staff in an organisation is likely to bring happiness to the customer and this result to competitive advantage. Therefore, an organisation has the responsibility to create an environment is attractive to the customers in order to gain a competitive advantage. Employees in an organization have a major role to play in creating competitive advantage for an organisation. On the other hand, it is the organisation’s role to motivate its employees so that they can help the organisation retain and gain more customers. Four Seasons is aware of the competitive business environment and is striving to ensure that it remains competitive in the hospitality industry. Human resource is an important factor that the company is focusing on in order to ensure its success. The company’s management is aware that without having the right employees in place, the firm is likely to lose customers to other major competitor in the global market (Farnham 2010, p.65). The company’s employees are considered as an important asset in the running of the business. This is achieved through the establishment of conducive internal and external environment for the employees so that they are motivated to work. In addition, customer satisfaction is a major issue that Four Seasons focuses on; this is achieved by have enough employees so as to cater for the needs of all he customers. There are various ways of achieving competitive advantage; however, three main approaches are used namely: cost, quality and differentiation advantage. Cost advantage applies when an organisation tends to sell its product at a lower price than competitors. Quality advantage applies when an organisation places emphasis on the quality of goods it produces so that they may be of higher quality than those of the competitor. Differentiation advantage applies when an organisation produces unique products which competitors cannot produces. Human resource factor Four Seasons provide a good career opportunity for many professionals in the hospitality industry. The company aims to ensure that its employees attain a long life career so that they may become proud of well done job. The human resource department is always keen to check on the staff-guest ratio as a result of the increasing growth which has resulted to an increasing number of guests over time. The company stresses on motivating its staff by providing them with training opportunity and an environment that will help them feel motivated to work harder. The company has benefit scheme that ensures that it is in a position to retain its employees for a long time. The company focuses on mutual respect with its employees to ensure personal drive for excellence. In order to retain its employees, the company has a long term of service; for instance, executive managers have a term of service of at least 15 years. All qualified employees are entitled to benefits which make them feel motivated to work harder and for a longer period of time. Such benefits include: career growth opportunities, retirement benefits, paid holidays/vacation, educational assistance, annual employee service award among others (Kew & Stredwick 2006, p.41). Four Seasons’s learning activity is meant to support the experience of its guests so that the guest may feel comfortable. The training program helps to build competence to employees at all levels hence ensuring that the company gains competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. Each function in the organisation strives to enhance the quality and employees retention. The company has a learning manager whose duty is to work in collaboration with the management in order to ensure that skills are acquired by employees at all levels. The learning manager works as a consultant within the organisation whereby he assesses the problems and needs and advises on the best course of actions. It should be noted that the solutions cannot always be training solutions but can also be system, management or motivation. Role of HR in strategy formulation In the case of a commercial organisation, the term strategy refers to the approach used by top managers in an organisation in order to drive the organisation in a particular way for the purpose of achieving objectives, goals and the overall purpose (Armstrong 2006, p.67). As such, a strategy is meant to help an organisation to gain competitive advantage. The process of strategic management comprises of several steps starting with a mission statement, setting objectives and analyzing the external environment so as to note the threats and opportunities available. In addition, strategic management helps to conduct an analysis of the internal environment so as to identify the opportunities and threats. In summary, this type of analysis is referred to SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Strength) analysis. The analysis help to determine the nature of the management system so as to determine if there are capabilities and competencies which should be strengthened so as to maximize profit and increase overall organisational performance. On the other hand, threats that may result to reduced organisational performance can also be detected and reduced considerably. Due to the availability of limited resources and time, managers do not employ the rational or formal decision making approach. Managers use informal methods based on their experience and the need to make flexible decisions when they are formulating organisational strategy. When organisation’s goals and objectives are clear, rational approach of decision making becomes successful in formulating organisational strategy (Armstrong 2006, p.71). On the other hand, if the organisational strategy is to be successful, the external environment is supposed to be stable and the information provided regarding the external and internal environment should also come from a reliable source. Various analysis techniques are used in such scenarios like PESTEL; the initials stand for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environment. Political: the managers have the responsibility to know the existence of new government policies, initiatives that are meant to have an impact on the national or regional environment. Economic: this analysis deals with analyzing economic variables that may affect business performance like inflation, exchange rates, recession and boom on the local, national, regional of global perspective. Social: this analysis assesses the social variables within the organisation. Managers have the duty to determine the demography of the employees, their altitude towards work, duration of work, workforce satisfaction among others. Technological: technology has been dynamic in the recent past. Managers in an organisation should be updated on such matters so as to determine which technologies to be applied in order to boost the organisation’s performance. Legal: the analysis calls for assessing any legislation that has been changed and is likely to affect workforce. For instance, company law, employment law and laws affecting migration. Environment: environmental sustainability has been emphasized in any industry in order to help reduce the impacts of global warming. Organisations have the duty to reduce carbon emissions in order to get rid of this problem. References Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 10th Ed. London. Kogan Page. Barrows, C. & Powers, T. 2008. Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Daft, R. 2007. Management. New York: Cengage Learning. Farnham, D. (2010). Managing in a strategic business context. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Kew, J. & Stredwick, J. 2006. Business environment: managing in a strategic context. New York: CIPD Publishing. Miller, F., Vandome, A. & McBrewster, J. 2010. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. New York: VDM Publishing House Ltd. Assessment Activity 2: Ethics and Accountability Introduction CIPD stands for Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. It is a professional body that deals with the management and development of people in the United Kingdom and the Ireland Republic. The mission of CIPD is to be a leader in promotion and development of good practice in management by professional members and organizational colleagues. The purpose of this code is to ensure that members of this body irrespective of membership grade uphold good practice within their profession and must commit to adhere to the code of professional conduct which sets the standard of conduct (Stephens & Pettinger 2005, p.17). The code also contains a description of procedure of dealing with complaints arising from any violations of conduct. In reference with CIPD, a HR professional is expected to take specific actions in order to ensure that he or she act professionally and ethically throughout their work as this paper will discuss. Discussion The HR code of professional and ethical conduct has been adopted to ensure that HR personnel promote and maintain the highest standards in service delivery and conduct to all persons visiting an organization. HR personnel are expected to adhere to the law and standards sets while at the same time act professional and ethically (Marchington, Wilkinson & Sargeant 2005, p.26). Those who hold HR certificates are expected to adhere to responsible standards so that the public can have confidence in their integrity in their capacities. Specifically, HR professionals who are certified are expected to do the following: 1. Take professional responsibility A human resource professional is expected to act professionally by adding value to the organization he or she is serving. All decisions and actions taken should be based on professional responsibility. Such decisions should guide and lead to activities that ensure that credibility and value are enhanced in the organization. In order to ensure that value is added to an organisation, HR professional should take part in measuring effectiveness of the human resource department in realizing organizational goals (Marchington, Wilkinson & Sargeant 2005, p.29). Such goals are achieved when HR personnel and colleagues comply with the law set forth by the organization and the national laws governing employment. Consistency in maintaining the values of the professional conduct should always be focused on. The level of service, social responsibility and performance to the organization should be maintained at the highest possible level. The performance can only be maintained at the highest level when employees are appreciated and used appropriately in achieving organizational goals. As such, employees should be engaged in the process of decision making so as to ensure that their voices are heard in an open forum (Kew & Stredwick 2006, p.33). 2. Taking part in professional development A certified HR professional must strive to achieve the highest standards of competence by strengthening competencies consistently. HR personnel must thus commit to learning; developing skills and applying new knowledge related to HRM add value to the organization. According to Kew & Stredwick (2006, p.37) HR professional should make contribution to the body of knowledge and ensuring that colleagues grow through teaching, research and development. 3. Promoting fairness and justice Justices and fairness to the employees and the organization are important aspects to the organization. It is the responsibility of HR professionals to ensure that justice and fairness are promoted and fostered within the organization they are serving. This is achieved by respecting the intrinsic worth and the character of each of the employee working in an organization. In order to get rid of negative behaviors like intimidation, harassment and discrimination, every employee needs to be accorded maximum respect, compassion and treated with dignity (Kew & Stredwick 2006, p.41). Every employee has the right to develop competencies and acquire new skills; this can only be possible if an opportunity is provided to them. Discrimination in the work place should be avoided in order to ensure diversity; this ensures that all persons irrespective of their race, ethnicity or religion have an opportunity to work in any organization. HR professionals should also be ready to adopt and administer legal and ethical policies that are made for the well being of the organization without considering their personal interests (Taylor 2006, p.71). 4. Solutions to conflicts of interest For the purpose of ensuring that all the stakeholders have their voices heard, HR professionals must be ready to have trust in all the stakeholders. HR professional must be ready to listen ad protect the interests of the stakeholders and their professional integrity so as to avoid engaging conflicting activities. Taylor (2006, p74) notes that this can avoided if HR professionals adhere and advocate using published policies within the organization so that all stakeholders have an opportunity to view these policies before they are implemented. HR professionals should distance themselves from their positions which would help them gain personal, financial and material gains. Considering the positions HR professional hold, they are expected to gain preferential treatment; this may end up into conflicts of interest and thus should be avoided. In order to solve any possible conflict of interest, HR professionals should prioritize identifying such conflicts so that when they arise, they can be disclosed to all the stakeholders (Marchington, Wilkinson & Sargeant 2005, p.57). 5. Use of information HR professionals have they duty to protect the rights of all individuals in the organizations through informed decision making. The process of acquiring information and information dissemination should be made transparent in order to ensure truthful communications (Marchington, Wilkinson & Sargeant 2005, p.59). This process should be made ethical and responsible so that every employee gets an opportunity to receive the information. The most crucial information is the one affecting employment relationship, as such the information should be ensured that it is appropriate. Thus, the accuracy and source of such information should first be investigated before it is used to make decisions that are related to employment. In addition, the HR information should be ensured that it is up to date and accurate. HR professionals should thus ensure that any information related to HR practices and policies have been fully assessed in order to determine their completeness and accuracy. References Kew, J. & Stredwick, J. 2006. Business environment: managing in a strategic context. New York: CIPD Publishing. Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A. & Sargeant, M. 2005. People management and development: human resource management at work. New York: CIPD Publishing. Stephens, T. & Pettinger, R. 2005. Managing activities: CIPD revision guide 2005. New York: CIPD Publishing. Taylor, S. 2006. Managing in a business context. New York: CIPD Publishing. Read More