Employment Relations & Grievance Handling - Essay Example

Submitted by: Submitted Table of Contents Introduction 2. Company Profile 3. HR Strategies 2 3 Areas for Improvement 5 3.2 Actions for Improvement 5 4. Employee Development 6 4.1 Areas for Improvement 9 4.2 Actions for Improvement 9 5. Training 10 5.1 Areas for Improvement 12 5.2 Actions for Improvement 12 6. Grievances Handling and Employee Relations 14 6.1 Areas for Improvement 15 6.2 Actions for Improvement 15 7. Conclusion 16 List of Figures 1. Affects of HR practices 3 2. Job Analysis for training sessions 13 3. Training Cycle 13 1. Introduction Human resources department has earned itself an important position in any organizational setup. No company can claim to exist without an HR department in the modern competing world of high needs. It not only provides the organization an underlying structure to manage the resources of the organization, it overlooks the performance of the employees so that their development needs can be fulfilled. Human resource strategy will majorly involve the creation and maintenance of a productive workforce that is motivated and satisfied in terms of rewards for their efforts. Another important function of human resource department is to handle the grievances of the employees so that they can feel like they are treasured by the company and become loyal employees. A company shall be chosen for analysis whose human resource department will be evaluated for their productivity and effectiveness in the following areas; HR Strategies Employee development Employment Relations & Grievance Handling Training After the critical analysis of their strategies and procedures, some improvements shall be recommended for their existing infrastructure. 2. Company Profile Marriot International is considered to be one of the leading hotel chains and franchise providers in the world. It has over 3400 lodging properties in 70 countries around the globe. The headquarters of Marriot are at Maryland, USA and had around 137,000 employees under their name by the end of year 2009 (Marriott News Center 2009). It has sustained its position as a quality service provider and this has been possible due to its strong infrastructure. According to Marriott Management Philosophy; a successful business cannot be run if employees do not know how to manage people (Elwell n.d.). Therefore they consider good management and trained personnel to be great assets. They provide a range of services namely; hotels, airline food service, business and events food service etc. 3. HR Strategies It is vital to devise an efficient HR Strategy so that the company can hire talented professionals, retain them by keeping them satisfied and make arrangements for their training and development. This helps the company to gain profits and competitive advantage in the market. An effective HR strategy is based on the following key points (Clapper 2010); What options have been chosen by the company for their growth? What are the needs and capabilities that the company needs to be equipped with in order to attain those options? What should be introduced or carried out in the organization to create the capabilities? Ulrich (1992) highlighted the people who get affected by HR practices, as it can be seen in the following figure: Figure 1: Affects of HR practices (Ulrich, 1992) Companies around the world have realized the need to merge the strategic and human resource planning activities (Ulrich 1992). Marriot believes in the amalgamation of these activities to separate themselves from the rest of the companies in the hotel industry. Such a strategy was visible when Marriot expanded their business to Hong Kong. There were already numerous organizations running successful businesses in the hotel industry therefore they knew that efficient HR strategies would have to be implemented to succeed in that region. Even hiring competent individuals was a task in its own since all of them were already working successfully for renowned organizations. Extensive analysis was done regarding the HR practices of Marriot to find out a way to distinguish them from the rest and deliver their trademark quality service. Finally, it was decided by the Marriott management to offer their potential employees a five days week instead of a six days week. This HR strategic move proved to attract many competent professionals from the market due to which Marriott was able to attain the same quality service that they are famous for. This strategy also helped them retain the talented individuals in their workforce and satisfy their customers with good service (Ulrich 1997). Marriott is considered to be a ‘provider of choice’ i.e. customers tend to think of Marriot first when they are in the need to make lodging or dining arrangements. For number of years, their focus was merely on the maintenance of this customer loyalty. At one of their management meetings in 1992, they decided to aim for “employer of choice” along with the previous goal (Ulrich 1992). Marriott realized that if they would not be able to retain their talented and experienced workforce then their persistent rapid growth would not be achievable in the future. They chose to make it their business goal rather than a strategic option. To attain the stamp of “employer of choice”, they have chosen to broaden their circle from which they had usually hired employees for example; now they are open to the idea of hiring more mature adults rather than energetic young professionals. They have realized the importance of forming autonomous work teams. They give their employees the leverage to be creative with their work by empowering them with responsibilities. There are two well-known human resources theories namely; X and Y theory. These theories have been devised by McGregor in which he addressed the contrasting approaches of management of a workplace (McGregor 2002). The defendants of X theory manage the workplace with close scrutiny and believe that their employees are lazy who have no desire to work. These managers monitor the employees’ work very closely and do not give them any freedom of thoughts or actions. Theory Y has a contrasting approach as compared to Theory X. The managers who favor Theory Y have the perception that their employees are talented, motivated people and will perform best if they are given their required space and time. These employees are not closely monitored and are given the freedom to be creative with their tasks. After the analysis of the HR strategies of Marriott International, it seems that Theory Y is adapted by them since they empower their employees with important decision making and treasure them as much as they treasure their customers. To motivate and satisfy their employees, Marriott International has even modified their reward system (Ulrich 1992). 3.1 Areas for Improvement The modern world has broken geographical barriers for people and organizations, equally. Customers enjoy products and services from all over the world. Expansion into the global market has become a norm and new strategies have evolved regarding the management of global offices. It is commonly witnessed that departments are maintained individually at the regional offices. Same approach is adapted at Marriott International. These departments function independently and therefore lack consistency and unity. Individual departments will not be able to reflect the vision of the company as well as a unified and centralized structure. Kathleen Barclay, who was the vice president of global human resources at General Motors, devised the 3T’s HR strategy; Technology, Talent and Transformation (Society for human Resource Management 2006). Retention of talent is already an objective of the company but incorporation of technology requires more efforts. 3.2 Actions for Improvement The actions that should be taken by Marriott International are to break down the barriers and establish a centralized platform for the HR professionals. The development of such a platform will require a competent team that should possess the knowledge of all levels of HR operations so that nothing is left out in the centralization of the policies and procedures. This approach has been adapted by General Motors (Leonard 2002). General Motors had a vision that separate divisions and regional offices of the organization should not operate like separate companies. GM reorganized their infrastructure and developed a central model to cater to the HR departments of the regional offices. They put most of their business operations online and it helped them keep track of all the processes and procedures that were being followed in the respective regions. It also enabled the implementation of common policies in the whole organization with minor changes with respect to the local needs. This strategic change in HR practices transformed their four year old intranet into an innovative and modern HR portal. Marriott International has been using Oracle E-Business Suite 11is HR and payroll applications since 2005 and utilizes technology in all of their HR policies and procedures (Joch 2008). Along with this, HR portal should be developed where the HR professionals of the company can interact with each other and gain knowledge about the best HR practices. This platform can even be helpful with the aspect of employee development since employees will learn from each other and try to remove their flaws. The employees at the organization can have access to their personal information and thus modify it if needed. The HR resources will save some time from their daily routine operations if the data can be verified and updated online by the employees themselves. 4. Employee Development Employee development is very crucial and mandatory for the success of any organization. It is not only the responsibility of the company but also the individual to accept any source that would be beneficial for his development (Halogen Software 2010). It is important for individual’s roles and responsibilities to be understood so that relevant development plans can be formulated. Employee development has many advantages; Helps the individuals to enhance their level of expertise in the respective nature of work. Replacements for retired or exiting staff can be easily found from within the organization. Increases customer loyalty and increases chances of retention. Customer service improves, hence customers also become loyal. The employees at Marriott International are chosen by an innovative process that has been formulated by the aid of behavioral scientists. The process screens the applicants not only on the basis of their skill set but also looks for their natural inclination to help others (Carey 2008). Once the employees are hired, they need to get accustomed to the working environment and their prevalent ‘spirit to serve’. The process of employee’s development begins from his first day in the organization when the new recruit goes through an eight-hour long orientation session regarding the vision of Marriott as well as his individual role. It not only highlights the objectives of the company but also includes information about their specific establishment and region. This is known as the “New hire orientation program” (Hotel Management Asia 2010). Extensive planning is done by the personnel who are in-charge of employee development in the organization. This planning involves the formulation of the job description of the new employee or the revision of the existing job description for the job title that the candidate has been chosen for. A copy of his job description, human resources services and employee handbook are given to the new employee to make him understand the company’s policies and procedures. One of the best approaches that is adapted by Marriott International is to assign a ‘buddy’ to each new recruit in the organization for a period of three months (ICMR 2004). ‘Buddy’ is defined as the employee who has worked in the organization for multiple years and therefore understands the working environment and vision of the company. The helping figure will preferably be from the newly recruited employee’s department so that he can also guide the new employee with the nature of the work and develop his skills for the tasks at hand. The new recruits are evaluated at the end of their three months period in the organization to judge if they have been able to learn enough about their organization, required skills and the demographics of their region and industry. Measures are taken for the development of employees at all levels; from the front desk personnel to the managerial staff in the back office. Marriott considers its employees to be an asset for the organization therefore takes extensive measures to develop their skills and provides them new challenges in their job roles. Another reason for employees development endeavours is that it prepares the employees for the next level positions. Employee development is a continuous process and bears great importantance in a service industry since there will be a direct communication between the customers and the employees. Employee development is also considered to be a combined effort of the employees and the organization, in which the employee’s knowledge and skills can be enhanced. According to the Marriott Philosophy; it should be well communicated to the employees that their growth and development depends on their own inclination to learn and get better (Elwell n.d.). Their philosophy document also states that they provide opportunities to its employees equally but the degree of development will depend on the employee’s eagerness and readiness to learn to enhance their skills. The concept of secondments serves to be an effective mode of employee development (Barkworth 2004). The original meaning of the word is temporary transfer of an individual to another position in the organization. The passage of years has given more meaning to the concept by expanding the vicinity from within the organization to other organizations. Many establishments adapt this technique for employee development around the globe like Cabinet office (Cabinet Office 2003), Civil Interchange Service (Barkworth 2004). Marriott International also utilizes the concept of secondment but it is however restricted within the organization (Xiao 2010). The secondment proves to be a good way of gaining knowledge about the other departmental functions and operations. It also produces an amiable working environment since it makes the employees appreciate the efforts of other employees for the progress of the company. Secondments are planned such that both the parties benefit equally from the arrangement for example; the front desk officers might be sent at the back office where the reservation data of the customers and their details are processed and maintained in the system. Similarly, the data administrators (who have been trained for customer relations) can be sent to perform the front desk officer’s job. 4.1 Areas for Improvement As stated earlier, the employee handbook is given to the newly recruited employees to make him understand the system of the company. It has been noticed that the handbook is taken back from the employee after some period of time. The employees at Marriott are not exposed to other sister companies or partners’ style of managing and running operations. This creates a monotonous and repetitive style of management in the organization. The practical experience of a different style of management cannot be taught by formal training sessions. Its knowledge can be gained from personal experiences. 4.2 Actions for Improvement A copy of the employee handbook should be given to every new employee and should not be taken back. This copy should be kept by him so that he can refer to it whenever needed. This will make it easy for him to abide by the rules and regulation of the company. Marriott International should introduce secondments for other organizations and partner companies so that employees can get first-hand experience with different styles of management and execution of tasks. Another approach that is proposed for the employee development at Marriot is that job shadowing should be introduced in the organization. Shadowing can be defined as the experience in which an individual can stay with another employee to learn about his work for a limited period of time. The observant employee might ask questions about the nature of that individual’s job, required skills, objectives etc. Job Shadowing is commonly used for students who wish to get information regarding some specific field or job but this concept has broadened and now applied within organizations as well (Barkworth 2004). Marriot has arranged several Job Shadow Days for students over the years (Marriott International 2003). 5. Training Staff training is an important part of human resource management (HRM). Mccleland (2002) gave a simple definition of training and stated that it is an activity that alters the behavior of the people. It serves as a source for the management to know the employees’ capabilities and enhance the skills of the individuals so they can perform better for the company. The world is constantly going through changes; new concepts and techniques keep on coming in the market. It is very crucial for the employees to be updated regarding the changes in the market and techniques so that they can compete with their competitors. Staff training in a hotel also bears great importance because of the increasing competition in the market and direct interaction with the client. Training makes the employees satisfied with their jobs, causes an increase in employee retention and provides the necessary skills to deliver good service to the customers. Therefore training bears advantages for the employer as well as the employee (Profiles Research Institute 2009). Marriott has three groups of employees in the company; one is the top management, the second one is the supervisory level of management and the third one is the front desk officers that provide the service to the customers. Training that is arranged for the first band revolves around the formulation of efficient strategies for the company, budgeting, marketing etc. The second band of employees undergoes training that involves the operations and management of the hotel for example customer service, management of guest’s requests and complaints (Xiao 2010). The third band of employees undergoes training regarding their delivery of service, most appropriate way to interact with the customer etc. Some of the different types of in-house training that are given to the employees are; Apprentice training On-the-job training Language training Outside training sessions are also organized by the hotel that include seminars, workshops and conferences to give the employee exposure to the outer professional world and different ways of running the business. Marriott International also provides employment to part-time workers who are paid by the hour. Marriott provides these hourly employees 15 minutes of informal training each time they come to work for example how to clean the table perfectly, most appropriate way to greet customers etc (Hotel Management Asia 2010). This informal training serves as a guideline for their work and the necessary skills that they should be utilizing to do better at work. This serves as a source of development of the employee and provides them knowledge about how to gain expertise in their specific nature of work. The nature of work for these part-time workers ranges from room operations, laundry services etc. 5.1 Areas of Improvement Xiao (2010) conducted a survey at one of the hotels of the Marriott International Group. The sample included employees from all the bands. The conclusion of the survey was that some employees felt that training takes lot of their time from the daily routine activities and some of the content in the training sessions is repetitive. Management expects great things from the employees after the training sessions are conducted but they do not get the expected productivity from the employees. 5.2 Actions for Improvement The training sessions should be conducted after extensive ‘Training Needs Assessment’ analysis has been performed by the HR department and the concerned departmental heads (Bates 2000). Job analysis should be done to understand the nature of the jobs of the individuals. The following figure highlights the importance of job analysis before conducting the training session: Figure 2: Job Analysis before training session (Woods 2006) If training sessions are not conducted out of need basis then the employees will find the content repetitive and futile. The company will face the costs of the training sessions without any productive results. The following figure describes the process of conducting effective training sessions: Figure 3: Training Cycle (Stredwick 2002) The training sessions should be kept exciting with the aid of interactive media so that the interest level of the employees stays high and they grasp useful information (Sikandar 2006). 1 Grievances Handling System and Employee Relations Grievance can be considered as dissatisfaction or a complaint that is communicated to the management of the organization. It can be any other factor that would affect the performance of the individual at work. Grievance is something that is felt by the employee but has not been addressed by the company or something that seems unfair to the employee. Grievance handling should be handled with tactics and urgency so that it doesn’t produce frustration and poor efficiency in the employee. Effective grievance handling from the management makes employee relations better (Cabinet Office 2003). Marriott believes in resolving issues for the employees in the most comprehensive manner therefore they established an effective issue resolution system in the mid 1990s. It was known as the Guarantee of Fair Treatment (GFT). This system provided the employees a convenient platform to get their issues addressed by the management. The complaints went through a hierarchy in which the first level consisted of the immediate supervisor of the employee. The complaint reached upper levels of management if his grievance could not be settled with the immediate supervisor. 6.1 Areas for Improvement However, the resolution of the issues did not satisfy the employees to a great extent. One of the reasons for this failure was that immediate supervisors and managers were tackling too many issues at the same time. When the system could not bear satisfactory results for the employees, the management decided to devise new strategies that included mediation and peer reviews (ICMR 2004). The management also introduced a toll-free hotline to help the employees solve their issues and provide them immediate responses. Although GFT could not prove to be an efficient mechanism for issue resolution, but it introduced an open door policy in the organization where matters could be discussed with the management. It increased the employee’s faith on the organization and made him realize that he is treasured by the management. 6.2 Actions for Improvement The following guideline will be helpful to improve the grievance handling system and employees relation tactics (Kumar 2006); The company should ensure that there is a quiet place provided to the managers where they can talk to the complainant in an amiable and calm tone. Some complaints usually get solved when the system is explained in a comprehensible manner. The complainants need to be assured that the manager will truly try to take care of the grievance and that the manager will give utmost attention and time to the matter. The manager’s role needs to be clearly stated in the process of grievance handling along with his authorities. Listening is the key to solving a problem in an amiable manner. The manager should listen to the complainant in a calm manner without prejudice or comments. The manager should address the problem at hand rather than allied issues. This way the complainant can get a solution that would be focused on the issue. A threatening tone should never be used while solving grievances as it spoils the employee’s relations with the company. It reduces his loyalty to the company. Neither should allegations be used to develop solutions. The employee should be ensured that the matter would be solved impartially. A common thing that is witnessed in the handling of grievances is that issues are solved in the manner of ‘horse trade’ i.e. one grievance is handled with most benefits for the employees while the other one would cater the management more. Confidentiality is one of the most important things therefore the managers should ensure that they keep the grievance handling procedure private from all the other employees in the organization. This will also increase the trust of employees on the management and give ground for better relations with the management. 4. Conclusion Human resource is one of the most important components of any business in the modern world. Efficient management of the personnel and achieving maximum productivity from the employees are some of the daunting tasks that are performed by the human resources department. Marriott is one of the leaders in the hotel industry and has managed to sustain great market share over the years due to their efficient HR policies and procedures. Marriott has formulated efficient HR strategies that have catered to the changing needs of the business. Marriott understands the importance of valuing their employees but needs to focus more on the incorporation of technology in their HR practices. Employee development holds a relevant place among the HR practices that are adapted by Marriott. Assigning a ‘buddy’, secondments and new hire orientation program are some of the techniques followed by them. However the concept of secondments should be expanded to their sister companies and partners as well. Numerous training sessions are organized for the employees of all levels but the daunting need is to perform comprehensive training needs assessment before the sessions are organized so that the employees do not find the sessions futile and repetitive. Marriott established the GFT system in mid 1990s but it did not prove to be very effective. Extensive measures should be taken to improve the system so that employee relations can also be improved. 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