Managing Human Resources - Essay Example

Managing Human Resources - The Hilton Group PLC - Number Module Total Number of Words 074 Q1 ‘HRM is not seen as important in itself, but is important because it supports – even defines – customer satisfaction’ (Case study). With reference to academic thinking in relation to the HRM role and function, critically evaluate the role of the HRM function in delivering service quality to the Hilton Group plc. There are quite a lot of ways wherein the HR management behind the Hilton Group evaluates its ability to delivery quality service to its valued customers. To ensure that its newly recruited employees understand and appreciate the concept of Equilibrium before joining the company, survey questionnaire is being used to test the effectiveness of the training program on each of the qualified new employee (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p. 4). Basically, the use of questionnaires in evaluating method is good in the sense that the HR manager can take advantage of using ‘open’ and ‘close’ ended questions to get honest feedback and suggestions on how to improve the training services given to its newly trained applicants (Reja et al., 2003). In general, there is a strong relationship between the customer satisfaction with the character and attitude of Hilton employees particularly those to deal with customers face-to-face. Given that the survey and interview result show that the applicant has a positive view on Hilton’s HR strategies, hiring the said applicant will make it easier on the part of the Hilton’s HR team to develop a strong Equilibrium service culture among its employees. Treating employees with recognition, respect, and reward is important in terms of improving the overall work performance of Hilton’s employees (Bowen, 2004). When it comes to the delivery of the Spirit of Hilton training program, the HR management evaluates employees’ ability to provide service quality to its customers by keeping an individual training record, a technical and behavioural skills record, and the Esprit workshop (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p. 4). These evaluation techniques are used to determine employees’ commitment to the implementation of Hilton’s core values, following Hilton’s brand standards, and Hilton moments (p. 5). In line with this, developing a competitive reward system is necessary to encourage its employees to work harder towards making the implementation of Hilton’s Equilibrium program successful. Specifically the use of ‘Richey system’ and the ‘mystery customer approach’ are effective in terms of improving the quality service given to customers (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p.6). Since this method uses individuals outside the Hotel group, bias judgement in terms of examining the quality service given to customers can be avoided. On the other hand, the guest satisfaction tracking system (GSTS) and the Grip system are also a good method of measuring customers’ satisfaction (Maxwell & Lyle, Strategic HRM and business performance in the Hilton Group, 2002; Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p.6). Although this method can be useful to some extent, it remains a fact that not all customers would take time to answer these questionnaires. On top of these, there are only few customers who are willing to send back the GSTS questionnaire to Hilton. The balanced score cards is an internal way of measuring and auditing the quality service given by Hilton employees to its customers (McPhail, Herington, & Guilding, 2008). Basically, the use of this system is highly recommended since the system can be designed based on the core values of Hilton’s customers, the expected quality of service, employees’ overall performance, and changes in the hotel’s profitability each month (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p. 6) Q2 The Hilton Group plc defined and developed its contemporary corporate brand. With reference to Hilton examples where appropriate, provide a reasoned and academically underpinned discussion of the importance of employees in successfully delivering employer branding and the role of employee training and development in supporting such initiatives. The main purpose of a brand name is to enable the consumers to identify the products or services of one company from a similar product that is being offered by other companies. In general, a brand is not limited to the “name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these” such as ‘H’ stands for the logo of Hilton (Kotler, 2000, p. 404). A brand name can also be used in referring to: (1) the attributes, quality or characteristics of products and services offered by the company; (2) the physical and emotional benefits the consumers get out of patronizing the company’s product and services; (3) the values of the company in terms of its capability to render a high quality product to its target consumers; (4) the corporate culture such as being organized in terms of delivering its services to the public; and (5) the kind of consumers that patronizes the products and services offered by the company (Aaker, 1997; Kapferer, 1992, p. 38). Corporate branding is an important strategy that will enable the marketing managers to attract its target consumers and enable them to become more aware and acquainted with the company including its wide-range of products and services. Once a brand name has been officially defined, a company can have competitive advantages over other hotels aside from protecting its corporate brand name from copycats or imitators under the trademark law (Kotler, 2000, p. 404). Likewise, a strong brand equity can lead to the development of brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand awareness, brand associations, including other proprietary brand assets such as store image, and price deals which could either positively or negatively affect a corporate brand (Pullig, Netemeyer, & Biswas, 2006; Yoo, Donthu & Lee, 2000). The Hilton Group’s contemporary corporate brand and image is focused on providng its customers with ‘Equilibrium’ – a good service quality that balances work and leisure (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, pp. 2 – 3). In line with this, improving employees’ behavior and attitude towards Hilton’s customers is attainable by developing an organizational culture that focuses on quality service improvements such as the Hilton’s Equilibrium service. Hilton’s selection and recruitment process is crucial in terms of enabling the HR management to establish a long-term relationship with its employees. Hacker (1997) reported that “a poor recruitment decision can cost a company the amount equal to 30% of the company’s First-year earnings”. Because of the risk that the Hilton Group will lose some of its existing loyal customers out of poor quality service, it is but necessary for Hilton’s HR management to carefully select competitive individuals to join the team. In line with this, the HR management of Hilton carefully evaluates potential employees’ perception and attitude towards Hilton’s Equilibrium before hiring new applicants (Maxwell & Quail, 2001, p. 4). Encouraging Hilton’s employees to actively participate in the promotion and practice of quality service through Equilibrium is necessary since Hilton’s employees are the ones who front lines the hotel. Given that poorly trained individuals could result to the poor quality service given to the customers, the HR management behind the Hilton Group PLC becomes responsible in providing its people not only with proper training but also some form of encouragement to ensure that each employee will become dedicated in improving the quality service they deliver to the customers. References Aaker, D. (1991). Managign Brand Equity. New York: The Free Press. Bowen, B. R. (2004, March 1). HR Magazine, March 2004 - Management Tools: Today’s Workforce Requires New Age Currency. Retrieved December 2, 2009, from Todays workforce requires new age currency: responsibility, respect, relationships, recognition and rewards work well together to motivate workers: http://www.shrm.org/Publications/hrmagazine/EditorialContent/Pages/0304bowen.aspx Kapferer, J.-N. (1992). Strategic Brand Maangement: New Approaches to Creating and Evaluating Brand Equity. London: Kogan Page. Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing Management: The Millenium-International Edition. Upper Saddle River: New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. Maxwell, G., & Lyle, G. (2002). Strategic HRM and business performance in the Hilton Group. International Journal fo Contemporary Hospitality , 14(5):251 - 252. Maxwell, G., & Quail, S. (2001). Human Resource Strategy for Quality Service: The Hilton Group PLC. Glasgow Caledonian University. McPhail, R., Herington, C., & Guilding, C. (2008). Human resource managers’ perceptions of the applications and merit of the balanced scorecard in hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management , 27(4):623 - 631. Pullig, C., Netemeyer, R. G., & Biswas, A. (2006). Attitude Basis, Certainty, and Challenge Alignment: A Case of Negative Brand Publicity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science , 34(4):528 - 542. Reja, U., Manfreda, K., Hlebec, V., & Vehovar, V. (2003). Open-ended vs. Close-ended Questions in Web Questionnaires. Developments in Applied Statistics , 159 - 177. Yoo, B., Donthu, N., & Lee, S. (2000). An examination of Selected Marketing Mix Elements and Brand Equity. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science , 28(Spring):195 - 211. Read More