The Logic of Customer Satisfaction and Retention of Hilton Group Plc - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Part I 2 Introduction 2 Essence of Human Resource Policies 2 Hilton Group, Plc 3 HR and Customer Satisfaction 5 Conclusion 7 Part II 8 Introduction 8 Role of Employees in Employer Branding 8 Conclusion 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 Part I Introduction The only thing that is presumed to be constant in this ever changing world is the word ‘change’ itself. Thanks to the technological advancement and immense improvement in the communication process along with the impacts of globalisation, the terms of trade are fast changing. The traditional and the conventional way of doing business are becoming obsolete as newer methods are taking up the slots and it is particularly true for the service industry. In case of service industry, customer is the undoubted king and every possible measure is initiated so that the esteemed customer is not just satisfied but is happy so that he is retained as the industry knows the fact very well that it is more difficult to get hold of a new customer than to retain an existing client. Essence of Human Resource Policies The logic of customer satisfaction and retention also applies to the hotel industry and renowned hotel chain - Hilton Group, Plc is no different. In case of a hotel group, the service offered is totally dependent upon the people and the team of the group. Therefore, there is absolutely no doubt about the fact that the human resource management is one of the most crucial aspects of such organisations. In fact, in the competitive industry of today, human resource policies are not just limited with that of the employee development and handling of employee grievances but also contribute towards the customer satisfaction and thereby towards the profitability of the group. Hilton Group, Plc In 2001, the renowned hotel group had more than 60,000 employees across 500 hotels all over the globe, in 50 countries. For the convenience of the business, the group had divided the operations of the hotel in to four different global divisions namely UK and Ireland, Europe – Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. The each of the divisions had dedicated team of professionals to run their operations under the leadership of the Area Presidents. In the year 1999, the group joined hands with another hotel group of repute named Stakis, Plc and undertook number of initiatives to upkeep the momentum of the employees going. The group came up with two prominent schemes namely the ‘equilibrium’ and the ‘esprit’. The ‘equilibrium’ approach basically tried to ensure the quality of the service at the hotel is in line with what the brand promises to be. The group summed ‘equilibrium’ as, ‘putting back in a life of what life takes out’. The approach aimed to relax the stressed out guests and to excite the under-stimulated visitors which implies that it aimed to complete one’s normal life with quality efforts. On the other hand, the ‘esprit’ approach aimed to put the employees in the fore front for the purpose of the delight of the guests. HR and Customer Satisfaction The several initiatives taken up by the management of the Hilton Group, Plc to satisfy and retain the customers by stressing upon the quality would fall flat if the employees do not perform as per expected standards. Being in to the service industry, it is the human asset that is most precious for the group. And to keep the human asset satisfied and motivated, the essence of effective human resource management can be easily assessed. The role of the human resource management is fast changing. To sustain in the competitive scenario of today, human resource policies are expected to deliver advanced and differentiated human capital along with creating high performing work groups so that the people strategies get aligned with the organisational objectives (Casey, Mazor & Saikia, “Evolving Trends as HR Rounds the Bend”). The management of the Hilton Group, Plc well understood that the achievement of the objective of guest delight could only be possible if there is employee delight (among the work force). Therefore, the human resource department initiated number of measures to develop the employee force as well as to train them. According to Gordon Lyle, the commencement of human resource might be from recruitment but more emphasis is definitely put upon the appropriate development of the employee so that the work force can reach the desired standard of ‘Hilton Moments’. The emerging model of the personnel management is believed to be more of an integrator of business wide goals which includes delivering satisfaction to the customers and attaining competitive advantage. To reach such stage, it is essential to have employees with right attitude along with favourable employment conditions (Cole, “Personnel and Human Resource Management”). Human resource practices hold the key to the customer satisfaction in the service industry. It has been found in many of the researches that the job satisfaction of the employees has major influence over their perception of quality. The perception of the employee basically depends upon his perceptions of the management, supervisor, financial and the service support. It is believed that such perceptions can really be shaped by various efficient human resource practices (Moynihan, Gardner & Wright, “High Performance HR Practices And Customer Satisfaction: Employee Process Mechanisms”). The core values of the Hilton Group, Plc comprise of four factors namely customer, quality, people and profit. The core values are inter-related as quality is delivered to the customer by the people to earn profit. The two end factors are the customers and the profit. So, the essence of integration of quality with the people can be estimated. Conclusion The case of the Hilton Group, Plc clearly depicts the changing role of the human resource manager. In the service industry of today, it is the human capital that is the differentiating factor among the various companies. The competition among the companies is ever increasing. The companies are banking on the developed and the trained employee force that would create value for the customers with quality service and satisfy them so that they are retained. But it is also an accepted fact that to keep the customers satisfied, at the outset it is necessary that the employee themselves have pride for their job. The Hilton Group, Plc has instigated many strides so that the employee delight is achieved with their effective and efficient human resource teams and professionals. It can be said without doubt that the proper human resource policies are must for the customer satisfaction as it not only supports but also defines it. Part II Introduction In the competitive scenario of today, branding has come up with significant importance in the corporate world. The companies in the same industry deal with identical products or services. Consequently, the customer base to which they cater are also the very same. To have a fixed share of the market, the companies try to brand themselves so that the target group of customer easily acknowledge their presence. In the service industry, it is the employee force that comes in direct contact with the customers. As a result, human capital holds supreme importance for the purpose of effective branding and marketing of the corporate. Role of Employees in Employer Branding One of the basic jobs of the human resource professionals is to recruit talents with the right traits. The candidate might have excellent qualifications and other credentials but if the candidate is not job-fit, the entire effort falls flat. To attract the right candidate for the right position, it is implied that the human resource manager should have a large pool of candidates available. In other words, the prospective employees should get attracted towards the employer. To be employer of choice, different companies resort to different measures. As Stewart Black observes just as the customers of today have many options available due to boom in the free flow of information, same is applicable for the employees too (Black, “The employee value proposition: How to be an employer of choice”). With the right candidates in the right profiles, the employing company have to depend upon the employee force to a great extent, especially in the service industry. For the purpose, the employees have to be retained and clear picture of growth and development has to be shown to them. In the Hilton Group, Plc, it is observed that the wide range of training measures have been initiated so that the employees reach the desired levels of standard. The human resource management of the renowned hotel group is of the opinion that the zeal of developing themselves should be present with in the work force and the employer should be able to facilitate such passion. In the case of the Hilton Group, Plc it also comes to light that all of the employees might not want to develop themselves and many would stick to their present stature. But the human resource professionals were of the view that still they should be shown the path of growth and development. The effective module of training and development in an organisation specifically serves two fold objectives. Firstly, it helps the employees to meet their need of self-actualisation, in absence of which the talented people would definitely try to move out. But the second reason of the training and development is of greater significance to the employing concern. Appropriate sessions of training and development helps the employees learn the latest skills and get align with the best of the industry standards. It is found that the training session at the Hilton Group, was that of top level as the trainees were made accustomed with few of the weird exigencies like staying with the sister of the hospitalized guest among others. The few of the latest developments in the professional world of human resource practices with respect to the service industry has been that the employees are often being treated as the customers along with the traditional technique of including high performing employees in the vision of the company (North Dakota State University, “Human Resource Strategies for Delivering Service Quality through People”). The Hilton Group, Plc is also found to treat their employees as their esteemed customers. To understand the essence of equilibrium, the new recruits are treated as guests so that they get the feel of the services that are catered to the customers and most importantly, feel positive about it. The group also encourage their staff to act as the mystery customers as and when they stay at the group’s hotel for privileged rates. Through such measures, the employees can themselves find the flaw, if there is at all any. With such efficient training initiatives, it is certain that the employees of the Hilton Group, Plc would be groomed to serve their valued clients at the best possible standards. The various sessions like ‘spirit of Hilton Programme’, ‘esprit workshop’, ‘technical and behavioural skills training’ and one-to-one review with manager are all aimed to bring the best out of the employee force. The Hilton Group, Plc has the unique module of ‘Hilton Moments’ along with the schemes like ‘employee of the month’, ‘employee of the year’ and the ‘star bond scheme’. All the schemes help the company to encourage the employees to bring the best out of them. The well trained and well groomed employee force is the basic requirement of any service industry player and Hilton Group, Plc is no different. The group provides their work force with all the necessary exposures so that they cater to the customers in the quality way, as the then HR-VP of Asia, Rosie Holis had identified if they are not delivering quality, they are not at all in the race (to be the best). Conclusion The competition in the service industry is ever growing and the hotel industry is one of the most competitive sectors of the service industry. To survive and sustain such competition, the various hotel groups of repute are banking extensively upon their human capital. All other factors remaining constant, it is the employees that are playing pivotal role in making a particular brand successful. Therefore, there remains little room for debate about the ever-increasing importance of the employees among the players of the service industry for successful employer branding. References Black, Stewart, “The employee value proposition: How to be an employer of choice”. 18 November, 2009. INSEAD. < http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/black.cfm> Casey, Thomas F., Mazor, Arthur & Saikia, Rajlakshmi, “Evolving Trends as HR Rounds the Bend”. 18 November, 2009. IIPM Knowledge Centre. No Date. Cole, Gerald A., Personnel and Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning EMEA, 2002. Moynihan, Lisa M., Gardner, Timothy M., & Wright, Patrick M., “High Performance HR Practices And Customer Satisfaction: Employee Process Mechanisms”. 18 November, 2009. Cornell University ILR School. 2002. North Dakota State University. “Human Resource Strategies for Delivering Service Quality through People”. 18 November, 2009. Delivering and Performing Service. 2006. Bibliography Masleva, Ian. “Sheraton Brand”. 18 November, 2009. Employer Branding. No Date. Maxwell, Gill & Quail, S. Human Resource Strategy for Quality Service: The Hilton Group Plc. Glasgow Caledonian University, 2001. Sartain, Libby & Schumann, Mark. Brand from the inside: eight essentials to emotionally connect your employees to your business. John Willey & Sons, 2006. Read More