Four seasons hotels inc hr practices

quadruple seasons hotels inc hr practicesThe assignment is based on a case study that revolves al to the highest degree quadruple Seasons and their subtlety in relation to employment. The target of this assignment is to basically answer five questions that be specific to understanding the tillage of 4 Seasons and the persuade of HRM on the administration. Like any case there atomic number 18 forces that the confederacy makes to deal with and the writer tries to report these issues by explaining what creatord the issue to occur. The assignment in addition recognizes several key promoters that the HRM of the companies sport to deal with and at the worry fourth dimension identifying how weighty is the HRM to the foursome Seasons and what kind of influence it has on the employment dodging.The writer identifies several preferences and recommendations to solving the issues and besides explains the purpose of choosing the survival of the fittest at the same eo n illustrating the strickle individually of the options would have on the organic law and the dissimilar s tugholders. The writer has compoundd sundry(a) models and matrices to the discordant sections in order to facilitate in the explanation of the topics.Company and its position in the hospitality indus renderIsadore Sharp (Sharp) with the help of his br a nonher(prenominal)-in-law, Eddie Creed (Creed) and his friend Murray Koffler (Koffler) founded the quaternion Seasons with an investment of less(prenominal) than a $ million. The first property was a motel, four-spot Seasons Motor Hotel in 1961 in downtown, Toronto. This was a 125 roomed motel, with upscale line and amenities that were the close for attracting their guests and in particular celebrities from the neighboring T.V. station. The bordering property was a 569 rooms Toronto Inn Park which was built in the division 1963. Since so Sharp went on to built several new hotels such(prenominal) as the Inn on the Park, in London and other small inns in smaller urban atomic number 18as such as Belleville, Ontario and Nassau, Bahamas merely in the year 1970.This building of new hotels came to a serious problem in around the year 1994 as the quartette Seasons saw themselves in a visualiseable debt and only due to the help of Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Tala Bin Abdufaziz al Saud (Al-Waleed) and his investment of C$100 million did the quaternity Seasons and Sharp lead this collapse. With this financial support from Al-Waleed, iv Seasons was able to built new hotels in Singapore, Mexico City, Berlin and Prague with this resorts were built in Hawaiis Kona Coast, Carlsbad, California and Chiang Mai, Thailand. The 4 Seasons on February 2007 was acquired by various investing groups namely Casacade Investment, L.L.C. which belonged to Microsofts Chairman Bill Gates, Kingdom Hotels external, owned by Al-Waleed, and Triples Holdings Limited, a family holding corporation of Sharps, which to fast enher was a US$3.37 political machinedinal buyout furnish. As a part of their negotiations a 10 percent rice beer in the group and the CEO position was give to Sharp, in gain to this a long-term inducement contract related to the sales of villa and penthouses as private properties. By the end of 2008, Four Seasons had 82 managed properties in 34 different countries with just about 33,185 associates.Four Seasons lived on a term called The golden Rule which meant Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you and keeping this in their psyche they have treated their employees with as much respect as they would expect from the employees to the customers. This was personified with the various recognition they reliable from various openations such as Consumer Reports, Gourmet and Travel Leisure, Mobil Travel Guide, Gallivanters Guide and Cond Nast Traveler Magazine. The most cute honor to Four Seasons and which they have managed to earn from the last thirteen geezerhoo d is the Top 100 Companies to Work For by Fortune Magazine and as of year 2010, Four Seasons were positi aned at the 58th spot which comp atomic number 18d to the hotel indus move only Marriott International made the list as the 82nd position. This itself gives a picture of what the employees think about Four Seasons and their affableisation entirely there argon some critics that enounce otherwise as they believe that the primer for their success is be stupefy they tend to be very diverge to foreign clear skinned employees and prefer to guide them and the example given here was the Four Seasons Maldives resort, which was believed to be corrupt and curve as foreigners were given preference instead of locals irrespective of their endowment and competency and that local professional Maldivians were ignored just because of their color of skin. other censure was that in time though the employees were paid well they were working extended hours and were upset to deliver impe ccable service. Four Seasons at present is ane of the jumper lead hotel chains in the human beings and have easily been considered to be one of the best in the field in comparison to hotel chains similar Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Intercontinental, and so on and despite the various criticism Four Seasons has consistently been on the top when it comes to its work culture, then becoming a globally thriving hotel chain. destination of Four Seasons and comparison to major(ip) competitorsFour Seasons has always well-tried to bring home the bacon its guests with value added service and hassle free stay and by keep this in to their working culture they have earned the story of a superior customer service giving medication. The Four Seasons had also created to a greater extent than 247 standards which were meant to identify what the customers should expect to receive in a Four Seasons Hotel. regular(a) with these many standards Four Seasons always believed in adornment as all( prenominal) employee was given all the experts to do what they felt right and this worked well for the follow as an e.g. in the case mentioned how a bride had got her wedding dress stuck to the car door and the housekeeping staff did non waste any time and sent her to the spa while the staff member was patching the torn aras so that it would not be noticed. This was the kind of thinking that Four Seasons and especially Sharp want from their employees by this they created an purlieu where the employees were allowing to use their mind in solving problems gum olibanum reducing the chances for it to escalate. Sharp also believed that trueness and retention are the key to success, but verity to the customers came before the homage of the guests. They also truly believed in The fortunate Rule and designed their recruitment, portion oution, cookery and study of the employees. Four Seasons culture was based on the value each and every employee could bring to the company and d id not explosive charge about the reservation and experience the sensdidate had, this turn gave them employees who were willing to challenge themselves and at the same time willing to develop to the dampenment of the company. This is also one of the reasons why their customers were loyal as they felt that the employees were willing and striving to help pay back their stay reveal, this toilet be seen with the award that Four Seasons have been receiving since 1980, which are the AAA Five Diamond awards. This award clearly shows the respect and loyalty that the customers have for the company due the respect and loyalty that the employees show to their customers.In comparison to Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood, etc. Four Seasons believes in authority where as the other only use it as a form of marketing strategy. The missionary work statement or The Golden Rule of Four Seasons is Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you whereas Marriott has the Core Values that stat es Its about serving the associates, the customer, and the community. Marriotts perfect beliefs are enduring and the keys to its continued success (Marriott International, 2010), Hyatts mission statement is To undersurface authentic hospitality by making a departure in the lives of the people we touch every day (Hyatt Corporation, 2010), Hilton believes in We will be the preeminent global hospitality company the first alternative of guests, police squad members and owners alike (Hilton planetary, 2010) and Starwood would like to Create the most successful branded, global, livelihoodstyle hospitality company by forming a trust- and respect-based corporate family committed to re-imagining our dividing line with creativeness and innovation, resulting in the most fun workplace in the history of the world (Starwood Hotels and Resorts, 2010). Only by looking at these mission statements we burn down drum an vagary of who really caters to their employees as among the four majo r hotel chains mentioned only Marriott Hotel has their employees mentioned in their mission statement and even that is only considering that they take caution of the associates but does not give an root that they are willing to empower their employees like the way Four Seasons does. This does not mean that other hotels do not empower their employees but in terms of the definition which core giving the right and authority to an individual to think, behave, take action and exercise decisions in an independent way (Heathfield, 2010). By just applying the definition to the various hotels and their mission statements we can see that Four Seasons and Marriott are the only cardinal hotel chains that seem to be empowering their employees to take their own decisions.Empowerment of employees sounds tidy and will attract employees but the real factor here would be that this would to some finish create a very virgule hiring surround in the company as Sharp mentioned that they hire emplo yees with the right military position for the company and there is inadequate need for them to have experience as the work itself can be thought, which as mentioned before created a bias environment in Maldives as almost all the employees that were hired were foreigners and even though the local population had all the right credentials and at times even better that the foreigner staff, they were not selected and this is the major difference betwixt Four Seasons and the other hotels as almost every hotel select their employees based on their qualification and experience but being selected for having the right bearing to some extent is inappropriate and unethical especially if they are selected by the color of their skin, which is taking it to the extent of being racist and this is a very dangerous road to take especially if Four Seasons would like to expand to newer countries particularly the developing and non-developing countries. This is also one of the major differences betwe en Four Seasons and other hotel brands as Marriott for example believes in hiring employees from various cultures so as to help incorporate a multi-cultural environment in the organisation. some other reason for companies trying to incorporate local cultures in the company is because of the bodily Social state as it is one of the most important factor for the existence of any company as by not incorporating it into the company means that various stakeholders such as organization, NGOs, suppliers, stakeholders, local residents, etc. would not respect the hotel brand and thus causing prospective problems.HRM influence on vision, mission values and companys identityFour Seasons have been in this business since the 1960s and have live by one mission called The Golden Rule which defines their values as well. They focalization on their employees and promote empowerment in the company, in addition they hire employees based on their strength and not on their experience and knowledge as they believe that the commercial enterprise can be learnt by train but the attitude of a person cannot be changed. Human Resource Department (HRM) is considered to be the most vital and unavoidable department of a company but the influence of the HRM on the company depends on the culture and values of the company and how important they consider the HRM is and if it would help to improve the companys staff quality.In terms of Four Seasons the HRM would be more of a supporting department as they would have little influence on the culture of the company and instead the culture of Four Seasons would identify the HRM departments duties and the kind of recruitment, selection, training, reading, etc. criteria they need to dramatize. The organisation of Four Seasons depend on finding the employees that fit in their culture kinda than hiring qualified and experienced staff and then molding them to the requirements of the company. This to some extent makes it a lot easier for the HRM in terms of designing the programs but it also makes it extremely difficult to look for the right people for the right job. Another factor would be to incorporate the empowerment factor into the selection, training and development programs as they will need to be very accurate so as to not select, train and develop the quite a littlele people for the wrong job. To do so Four Seasons has already created a program which begins with hiring in sort outigent individuals with the resourcefulness and dedication to perform to their best and the training was began with a trine month initial orientation and a supervisor and focal point development programs, the senior management had their own executive development programs and the employees also received classroom training.The whole employee development program was carve up into seven move being Recruitment, Selection, Orientation, Training, Performance centering, Rewards Recognition, scramment Success and Promotion/Transfer each of these programs included their own specific components such as brain storming sessions and lengthy interrogates for Recruitment, ordain with strategy, attitude comes first, define required key competencies, 4 defends interview process and Behavioural Interviewing based on delineate competencies for Selection, come up with strategy, comme il faut lead time, emphasis on attitude, service teamwork, consistent global coming, multi-lingual Culture film, heavy management involvement buy-in and re-orientation as needed for Orientation, align with strategy, online (Standards) program, designated trainers and customers service skills, emphasis on Culture end-to-end and coordinated efforts for Training, align with strategy, identify key Competencies, equi display panel At not simply Good Person, assessment starts early and never ends, provide actionable feedback, do it in time to make a difference, potential assessment, goals/processes/measures and do it in time to make a di fference for Performance Management, paid spends and monetary rewards for Rewards Recognition, align with strategy, succession planning, task force work, planned global exposure, multi-ethnic talents for Development Succession and based on capital punishment experience and destinations of choice for Promotion/Transfer. The purpose of mentioning all these components is that the HRM program was extremely well defined and due to this the different departments did not need to depend on the HRM to tell them what was needed to be done but instead only had to follow these components and see that the employees followed them as well. Each and every factors of employee development was important but the most important factor for any company and especially in the hospitality industry is the Performance Management System (PMS) which could be defined as A management technique intended to holistically consider the performance of (usually a group of) employees or machines to work towards opti mum performance of a particular task or (more frequently) a group of tasks (Allsites LLC., 2010). The main reason why the PMS is so vital to an organisation is because in this stage the company can developedly identify whether all the earlier stages such as Recruitment, Selection, Orientation and Training were successful and if there is a need to redo few or all of the stages again, in addition this gives an idea of what to expect in the future stages. In simple terms this is a crossroad that could make or break the whole program so considering its importance every organisation necessitate to develop the best practical components for it. Four Seasons have identified nine various components, which give an idea that they as well consider it to be a vital feeling. The major issue here as mentioned in the earlier section is the focus on empowerment of employees which drives the HRM department and this is also the reason why the HRM is more of a collaborator rather that than initiato r which leave very little room for change and this would seriously affect their growth prospects as this would cause the HRM department to be bias towards a section of the employee market and this could also cause major future problems for the company such as mistrust and deflation of the brand photograph. Another important factor would be to not to consider being selfish to a particular section of the employees especially the white skinned employees which in any country and also by U.N.s universal proposition declaration on Race, Racism and the Law is considered to be racist and unethical, this can be proven by the article 23 point 1 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71 (1948) which clearly states that Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment (Bell, 2010). Thus it is extremely important for Four Seasons to try and not walk that line as selecting based on attitude could easily be perceived to be racist by external laws and this could also lead to a wide spread boycott of the Four Seasons and could tumble the identity and respect that the Four Seasons has earned.Policies and procedures in HRM and its evaluationThe culture of Four Seasons is extremely strong and has a direct influence on the strategies of the HRM and has also dictates the policies and procedures of the department. Four Seasons always believes that the satisfaction of employees is more important than that of the customers. This can be seen in the benefits that the Four Seasons offer which is specifically created to motivate the employees to swan in their best foot and this will be illustrated in the table below.Table Benefits of working for Four Seasons (Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, 2010)Company-Wide Benefits career Growth Opportunities laughable tardily CultureBest-In-Industry Training opulence Environment Within Magnificent Locations Worldwide advance Sharing/Incentive Bonus/Competitive Salaries gratis(p) girdle At Four Seasons Properties With Discounted Meals pay Holidays/Vacationeducational Assistance alveolar And Medical Insurance/Disability/Life hideaway Benefits/PensionEmployee operate Awards annual Employee Party/Social And Sporting Events gratuitous Meals In give Employee RestaurantsIn addition to these benefits there are other benefits that are given to the employees depending on the local law and regulations. The benefits are very specific and takes care of all the inescapably of the employees in terms of the Maslows power structure of inescapably we could get a much clear picture. The Maslows power structure of Needs identifies 5 various needs of a human being and that they strive to achieve it throughout their liveliness and these 5 needs will be shown in the control below.Figure Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 2009)Maslows Hierarchy of NeedsThe Maslows Hierarchy of Needs states that ther e are five main needs that a person needs to satisfy to make him feel complete and these needs are Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Social Needs, revere Needs and Self-Actualization Needs. Physiological needs are the need for basic things like air, food, drinks, shelter, clothing, etc. (Chapman, 2010). Safety needs is specific to laws and regulation and its impact on personal life or whether it is safe to live (Chapman, 2010). Social Needs on the other hand is more to do with having relationship with different groups of people principally family and friends (Chapman, 2010). Esteem needs are more psychology based like intuitive feeling independent, having high status and prestige, personal achievements, etc (Chapman, 2010). The Self-Actualization needs are the most street fighter but the most vital for feeling complete and this can be achieved when a person feels self-fulfilled, achieves personal growth and reaches the peak of his experience (Chapman, 2010). The Maslows Hierarch y of needs does not only affect the normal way of life but also has an influence on the motivation of the employees in an organisation especially the hospitality sector this sector tends to have the highest percent of employee overturn which mainly depends on the benefits that the company offers. To get a comprehensible future to this the writer will compare the two factor being the benefits of Four Seasons and the Maslows Hierarchy of needs to see which benefits affect what type of needs.Figure Maslows Hierarchy of Needs to Four Seasons Employee BenefitsCareer growth opportunities queer thick cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in bright locations oecumenicaldental consonant and medical / balk / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / supportComplimentary meals in give employee restaurantsProfit share / incentive bounty / competitive salariesComplimentary stay at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmp loyee service awardsAnnual employee party / social and neat eventsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in resplendent locations worldwideDental and medical / disability / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / pensionComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee service awardsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in magnificent locations worldwideDental and medical / disability / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / pensionComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee s ervice awardsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in magnificent locations worldwideDental and medical / disability / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / pensionComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee service awardsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in magnificent locations worldwideDental and medical / disability / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / pensionComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee servic e awardsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in magnificent locations worldwideDental and medical / disability / life insurancePaid holidays / vacationEducational assistanceRetirement benefits / pensionComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee service awardsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee service awardsProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesComplimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsEmployee service awardsCareer growth opportunitiesUnique deep cultureBest-in-industry trainingLuxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide In the above figure the w riter has clearly divided each of the benefits to the various needs that it satisfies. This figure clearly identifies that the main reason why Four Seasons is in the top 100 companies to work for is because of they try hard to satisfy the needs of their employees and in addition to this they also offer empowerment to its employees which directly or indirectly satisfies the needs of Esteem and Self-Actualization.As Vice President of HRM moving Four Seasons forward in the next four yearsFour Seasons is an organisation with great potential for growth, this is mainly because of their organizational culture and the way they take care of the employees. Employees are one of the most important stakeholders that have a direct impact on the organisation and if the employees are not happy then the customers will not be happy and thus affecting the running of the organisation. There are several factors that can be taken into account for the development of the organisation but the most important factor would be to focus less focus on empowerment and more on diversity.The reason fucking identifying it as a factor is that even although the company is managing to reduce their turnover by hiring employees that fit their culture, Four Seasons has not considered the external assembles of studying such an option and this has already started to take its toll on the company as people have started to notice that Four Seasons are bias to foreigners especially white skin candidate, this kind of controversies could seriously deteriorate the companys image and brand name, in addition it could in long term affect their employee turnover and even cause the company to lose their customers. This is only a miner moment compared to what could happen later as loosing the customers will effect various stakeholders to stop trusting the future of the organisation and this will cause a ripple effect where the stocks of the company will start falling, investors will start withdrawing their stoc ks and ultimately causing Four Seasons a final blow. This at the end would bring the company to the verge of bankruptcy. This is farfetched and may not even happen exactly as mentioned but sooner or later people will start to notice the biasness and retaliate accordingly.The above elastration is the consequence of ignoring the issue but the real issue is what Four Seasons can do to avoid such a massive collapse. This may not be easy and could take a lot of time and gold to reverse it. To begin with the company first needs to incorporate diversity to their culture as they need to stop judging that foreigners candidates are better at the use of empowerment than the local candidates and rather than hiring all the employees from out of doors resident country, they should divide the employee as 60% to 70% foreigners and 30% to 40% local should be included into their policies of HRM, this is simple terms means that Four Seasons needs to incorporate Talent Management in their strategy. T alent Management can be defined as A conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organizational needs. Talent management involves individual and organizational development in response to a changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and living of a supportive, people oriented organisation culture (Derek Stockley Pty Ltd., 2005). Talent management incorporates the whole process of the HRM such as recruitment, development, performance management, retention, etc. and it does not end there as it also helps develop the culture of the organisation towards a more positive outlook. The purpose of identifying Talent Management as an option is due the effect it could have on the HRM and Four Seasons as it helps to identify critical areas that need to be changed, takes phased approach to implementing a strategy within the areas, creates ways to assessing the impact on the ar eas and conducts reviews on the varies areas so provide input for future implementation (TalentAlign, 2010).Figure Talent Management judgmenthttp//www.taleo.com/sites/default/files/article-talent-management.jpg(Taleo Corporation, 2010)Based on the above shown figure we can identify that there are two major factors influencing talent management which are business goals and business performance and these are more like a cause and effect of the company, the cause being the business goal and effect being business performance. The figure also identifies all the various segments that talent management influences by dividing it into 4 sections namely Align, Assess, Acquire and Develop. To explain it better Align and Assess are pre-recruiting stages or planning stage where the HRM can identify the purpose and outcome that they would like want to achieve. Acquire and Develop on the other hand is involved with more of the physical aspect of the HRM for instance recruiting, training, develop ment, performance management, etc. Talent Management could in actual fact help Four Seasons to provide authority to the HRM department and thus restructuring the organisation to provide optimal workforce. This system is not bias thus changing the selection process and making the organisation more diverse. Craig Hickman a famous author of various books on business and management such as The Strategic Game, Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader, etc. identifies diversity to be an important component to the success of an organization and believes that organizations take it extremely lightly as they only tolerate it rather than encompass it and this is mainly due to the external influence such as government and local residence (Hickman, 2006). It is not just important for Four Seasons to incorporate diversity using talent management but also so embrace it with the optimism that it will improve their current position. The whole process of talent management should take around two to three years to accurately be integrated in the organisation but even afterward it integration Four Seasons needs to continue to develop it and follow up on the progress and identify the way to improve it.Another option for the company which may even be cheaper and less time overpowering than talent management would be the use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In simple terms CSR is the involvement towards the economy, environment and social sustainability of the public with the assistance of various stakeholders (Baker, Corporate Social Responsibility What does it mean?). The purpose of identifying CSR as an option is because of cost effectiveness, media attractiveness, direct influence, no change in the organ