I graduated with Bachelor in International Hospitality Management and Tourism, and am currently undertaking a Masters Degree in Tourism Planning and Development, in order to advance existing knowledge. I have an extensive background in the hotel and tourism sectors, with practical experience working for a number of leading consulting firms. I am a professional consultant with specialist knowledge of market analysis, planning and financial/economic feasibility studies for hotels, leisure, tourism objects and mixed-use developments. I have worked on many projects in these sectors in the UK, Eastern & Western Europe, CIS and Africa.

Sample

Identify an international firm (Hilton Group) relevant to your course of study, identify its current approach to HRM and critically evaluate against HRM theory and literature.

I. INTRODUCTION

Internationalisation of the hotel industry has reached the top of corporate agendas and many hotel chains began to realise that the international business environment is going to be fundamentally different from that of the past and that their HRM strategies require attention.

Alongside a hotel’s location, the attitude and capabilities of the staff are what makes it stand out from the competition and, in an industry facing high levels of staff shortage, holding on to good employees requires a strategy that will go beyond the “pay pocket”. (Cushing, 2004)

It is crucial to provide the staff with a chance to have their say, so that the potential problems are picked up before they go too far. A sustained programme of training and career development for staff at all levels, along with a communication strategy that helps staff feel part of a company’s goals, can be just as effective.

II. HILTON INTERNATIONAL HOTEL GROUP

Whichever major city you find yourself in, you have a big chance of (replace ‘to’) coming across a Hilton Hotel. Hilton International Group is a leading global hotel brand and the company, with an expanding portfolio of hotels, mainly Hilton Brand (own the rights to the trademark), Scandic, Conrad and Vernon Hotels. The company operates 380 hotels worldwide and is represented in 66 countries. Its 80,000 strong workforce looks after an average of 8 million guests every year. (Article, 2002; Annual Report 2003).

The quality of the Hilton brand is such that customer service and operational excellence is higher than in most industries. As with (delete ‘as’) all service businesses, the contribution of people is of central importance to Hilton’s success.

Senior executives at Hilton believe that the training and ongoing development of its employees is critical in order for the business to stay ahead in a competitive global marketplace. Consequently, learning is a major part of the company’s strategy. (Annual Report 2002)

Hilton International is totally decentralised; splitting into countries, cities and individual hotels. This meant that hundreds of managers had to be convinced about the initiative – an exercise in which SkillSoft played a fundamental role. (Article, 2002)

III. INTERNATIONAL HRM STRATEGY

1. RECRUITMENT

The broad recruitment strategy, suggested by Perlutter (1969) and later on by D’Annunzio-Green (1997), must determine the nature of the IMD programme and the type of international manager development.

Three different approaches available to managing and staffing companies’ subsidiaries include an ethnocentric approach, which will tend to use expatriates in key positions abroad; a polycentric approach with the use of local nationals wherever possible, and a geocentric approach with a mixture of nationals, expatriates and third countrynationals. (Briscoe D.R.,1995; Treven S., 2001; Datamonitor, 2004)

In the ethnocentric approach, the cultural values and business practices of the home country are predominant. All the standards for evaluation and control are determined centrally from the headquarters in the form of orders and commands. (Miles, 1965; Malkani, 2004)

The polycentric approach is in direct opposition. The subsidiaries in each country are developed locally under the supervision of local managers. It results in little communication between headquarters and subsidiary.

With the geocentric approach, organisations try to combine the best from headquarters and the subsidiaries to develop consistent worldwide practices. Manager selection is based on competency rather than nationality. (Refer to Appendix A) In regard to Hilton Hotel Group, it tries to involve more integration between centre and subsidiaries to ensure close co-operation between the different parts of the chain, and implement both universal and local standards for evaluation and control. (Johnson, 2003)

The company that applies the global integrated business strategy manages and staffs employees on a global basis. For example, Hilton has for many years attempted to recruit and develop a group of international managers from diverse countries. These people constitute a mobile base of managers who are used in a variety of facilities as the need arises.

2. DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

When considering the international nature of the hotel industry it becomes clear that different development needs exist. D’Annunzio-Green (1997) believes that there are two-tiered approaches to international development. At a tactical level, companies such as Hilton, have to ensure that managers are able to operate in different locations while developing a sensitivity to the local environment. The second one is based on a strategic level, where managers are required to think globally and view the organisation in an international context.

For the last few years, Hilton has introduced a large number of HRM strategies which focus on selecting, training and developing global managers who understand the worldwide ramifications of their business and can operate throughout the world.

The loss of employees is among the biggest issues facing modern-day corporations. Hilton Hotel Group is one of the examples, where managers work with closely with employees to detail their career paths. Hilton continues to demonstrate that building a satisfied and valuable workforce is not a quick-fix procedure, but an integrated approach that permeates through every aspect of the organisation. Hilton tries to recognise the importance of employee approaches and heavily invests in them.

3. RECOGNITIONS AND REWARDS AT HILTON

An organisation’s rewards strategy is perhaps the area which, for employees, provides the greatest bridge between rhetoric and reality. It is not only an essential tool in terms of retention, motivation and recruitment – it is an opportunity to demonstrate the culture of the organisation in a way that has real impact on employees. (Boselie, Paauwe and Richardson R., 2003; Briscoe 1995; D’Annunzio-Green, 1997; González, 2004)

At Hilton, the acquisition of leisure group Stakis plc in March 1999 promoted a review and subsequent update of the company’s rewards program – Esprit Club. (Webster, 2004)

Through their “Espirit” programme, Hilton International aims to make everyone feel valued within their working environment. Its objectives are to maintain high standards in human resources management and to create a business culture in which everyone can grow and develop their careers. To support this commitment, Hilton University has been launched worldwide, covering a range of skills for the hotel industry, from operational and technical to finance and general management. (Treven, 2001; Johnson, 2003; Datamonitor, 2004; Brochure)

THE HILTON UNIVERSITY

Founded in 2002, Hilton University enables people around the world to fulfil their aspirations. “At Hilton University, the personal growth of our people goes hand-in-hand with the growth of Hilton itself. The University helps our company set new standards for the global hospitality industry”.(Hilton University Annual Report, 2003, p. 5)

Around the world – in every hotel - 2,500 Hilton learners together completed over 30,000 e-learning programmes in 2003. In the same year the company has developed “learning zones” in all its hotels – typically a room with three PCs providing staff with access to the 300 on-line courses.

By recognising the fact that, for the great majority of Hilton’s team members, English is not their native language; in 2003 the company gave 200 people the opportunity to improve their language skills by accessing an on-line learning programme called GlobalEnglish. This has proved to be a liberating experience for some employees – especially those from under-developed and developing nations who may not previously have had access to the sort of formal education which is often taken for granted in the West. (Brochure; Article, 2002; Cushing, 2004)

Fast Track Development with the Elevator programme

It is a fast-track graduate development programme for Hilton International, which started in 1998. Its aim is to prepare the right people for General Management Roles, by bringing together a practical and unique mix of business, hotel and people management skills. (Brochure)

IV. LABOUR MARKET

Labour supply and retention remain areas of managerial concern in the UK and international hospitality industry. Kennedy (1998) states, that over the last 20 years various reports have tried to identify the causes of the disequilibrium in the allocation of labour. Solutions have ranged from the need to change “management style” to improvements in recruitment and selection procedures. (Appendix B)

A booming English economy might have breathed healthy profits into the hospitality industry's bottom line, but it has left many hotels scrambling to fill positions in what is being called the tightest labour market since 1978. (Benini and Sturken, 2000; Kennedy, 1998)

High Turnover Issue
It is generally considered that turnover in the industry should be attributed to the essentially transient nature of part of the workforce, namely students, young mothers and young people as a whole, as well as to the general difficulty in retaining staff. (Kennedy, 1998; Benini and Sturken, 2000)

The ageism issue is difficult to identify, and therefore difficult to eliminate in an employment context. Nowadays the industry employs mostly young people, and indeed for many of them provides the point of entry into the world of work. Older recruits often have considerable experience in the industry and may have a lower absentee rate. (Nord and Durand, 1978; Lucas, 1995) In Hilton, where employees are recognised as valued assets and receive the training needed to assume greater responsibility, and where their opinion is sought with regard to operational changes, turnover rates are lower.

Impact of new technology

Technology which facilitates on-line hotels will have an impact in terms of staff reductions on the front-desk hotel staff, who used to perform those functions. This technology also calls for a different range of skills from employees. Training will therefore become a continuous need and the remaining jobs will require greater skills. (Torrington D and Hall, 1991; Tyson and Witcher, 1994; Welch, 1994)

V. CONCLUSION
Hilton’s strategy on globalisation strongly affects the approach it takes to international human resource management. To ensure the development of managers with international experience, Hilton and other global hotel chains need to establish HRM systems as a core component of general organisation strategy and adopt a formalised approach to IMD. Whichever approach is adopted, it seems essential to plan the strategy and focus on a holistic, long-term approach rather than the individual, short-term approaches. A more centralised approach can optimise Hilton’s management as a competitive resource.

APPENDIX A

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES FOR USING LOCAL NATIONAL AND EXPATRIATES IN FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES.

Advantages and disadvantages of using local employees to staff international subsidiaries

Advantages and disadvantages of using expatriate employees to staff international subsidiaries

Most companies use expatriates only for such key positions as senior managers, high-level professionals, and technical specialists. Since expatriates tend to be very costly, it makes little financial sense to hire expatriates for positions that can be competently filled by foreign nationals. In addition, many countries require that a certain percentage of the work force be local citizens, with exceptions usually made for upper management.

APPENDIX B

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF IHRM

Development and training

The overall aim of the development function is to provide that adequately trained personnel in a company are capable to fulfil their goals, as well as to contribute to better performance and growth with their work. The development of employees can be treated as a special field of human resource management that includes planned individual learning, education, organisation development, career development and training. (Armstrong, 1996)

At the international level, human resource development professionals are responsible for: 1. training and development of employees located in subsidiaries around the world, 2. specialised training to prepare expatriates for assignments abroad, and 3. development of a special group of globally minded managers.

Creation and transfer of international human resource development programs may be carried out in two ways: centralised and decentralised.

With a centralised approach, training originates at the headquarters and corporate trainers travel to subsidiaries, often adapting to local situations. This fits the ethnocentric model. A geocentric approach is also centralised, but the training develops through input from both headquarters and subsidiaries’ staff. Trainers could be sent from various positions in either the headquarters or subsidiaries to any other location in the company.

As global competition increases, it is increasingly important for successful companies to have a group of managers with a global perspective. Companies must identify managers with global potential and provide them with various training and development opportunities. For example, having one or more international assignment(s), working on cross-national teams and projects, and learning other languages and cultures contribute to making a manager more globally minded. In addition, an organisation should include not only parent-country nationals, but also host-country nationals and third-country nationals in this group.

Performance evaluation

In companies, the performance evaluation is most frequently carried out for administration or development intentions. For administration purposes, performance evaluation is called for when the decisions on work conditions of employees, promotions, rewards and/or layoffs are in question. Development intention of performance evaluation is oriented to the improvement of the work performance of employees, as well as to the enhancement of their abilities on the grounds of the adequate training programme and advising employees regarding behaviour in the work environment.

As with other functions, the approach to performance evaluation depends on the organisation’s overall human resource management strategy. A company with an ethnocentric approach is likely to use the same performance evaluation process used at the headquarters for its subsidiaries. Some companies translate evaluation forms into local languages, whereas others use the original language everywhere. A company with a polycentric approach develops local procedures within each country. Finally, a company with a geocentric approach uses the same performance evaluation system worldwide, but it has universal applicability. Developing a global system is the most challenging.

Remuneration and benefits
In developing an international system of compensation and benefits, an organisation has two primary concerns. The first is comparability (Briscoe, 1995). A good compensation system assigns salaries to employees that are internally comparable and competitive within the marketplace. For example, the salary of a senior manager is usually higher than that of a supervisor, and each position should receive an amount within the local market range. The international organisation must also consider the salaries of people who may transfer from other locations. The second major concern is cost. Organisations strive to minimise all expenses, and payroll is one of the largest.

Remuneration and benefits are closely tied to local labour market conditions, even when an organisation takes an ethnocentric or geocentric approach. The availability of qualified local people to fill positions, prevailing wage rates, the use of expatriates, and local laws interact to influence the level of remuneration and benefits. For example, if there are few applicants available for positions, the remuneration for those positions generally increases. To reduce expenses, the international human resources manager might then consider bringing in an expatriate.

A company usually develops a policy, which could apply globally, to offer salaries and benefits representing a specific market level. For example, a large successful multinational company that emphasises the quality of its products and employees could have a global policy to pay the highest wages everywhere it operates. Another company could offer top salaries in the country where it does research and development, yet pay average wages in the country where it manufactures.

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