Four seasons hotels inc hr practices

Four seasons hotels inc hr practices The assignment is based on a case study that revolves around Four Seasons and their culture in relation to employment. The purpose of this assignment is to basically answer five questions that are specific to understanding the culture of Four Seasons and the influence of HRM on the organisation. Like any case there are issues that the company needs to deal with and the writer tries to identify these issues by explaining what caused the issue to occur. The assignment also recognizes several key factors that the HRM of the companies have to deal with and at the same time identifying how important is the HRM to the Four Seasons and what kind of influence it has on the employment strategy. The writer identifies several options and recommendations to solving the issues and also explains the purpose of choosing the option at the same time illustrating the affect each of the options would have on the organisation and the various stakeholders. The writer has incorporated various models and matrices to the various sections in order to facilitate in the explanation of the topics. Company and its position in the hospitality industry Isadore Sharp (Sharp) with the help of his brother-in-law, Eddie Creed (Creed) and his friend Murray Koffler (Koffler) founded the Four Seasons with an investment of less than a $ million. The first property was a motel, Four Seasons Motor Hotel in 1961 in downtown, Toronto. This was a 125 roomed motel, with upscale atmosphere and amenities that were the reason for attracting their guests and especially celebrities from the neighboring T.V. station. The next property was a 569 rooms Toronto Inn Park which was built in the year 1963. Since then Sharp went on to built several new hotels such as the Inn on the Park, in London and other small inns in smaller urban areas such as Belleville, Ontario and Nassau, Bahamas only in the year 1970. This building of new hotels came to a serious problem in around the year 1994 as the Four Seasons saw themselves in a huge 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 Four Seasons and Sharp survive this collapse. With this financial support from Al-Waleed, Four 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 Four 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 International, owned by Al-Waleed, and Triples Holdings Limited, a family holding company of Sharps, which together was a US$3.37 billion buyout offer. As a part of their negotiations a 10 percent interest in the group and the CEO position was given to Sharp, in addition to this a long-term incentive 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 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 mind 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 received from various publications such as Consumer Reports, Gourmet and Travel Leisure, Mobil Travel Guide, Gallivanters Guide and Condà © Nast Traveler Magazine. The most valued honor to Four Seasons and which they have managed to earn from the last thirteen years is the Top 100 Companies to Work For by Fortune Magazine and as of year 2010, Four Seasons were positioned at the 58th spot which compared to the hotel industry 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 culture but there are some critics that say otherwise as they believe that the reason for their success i s because they tend to be very bias to foreign white skinned employees and prefer to hire them and the example given here was the Four Seasons Maldives resort, which was believed to be corrupt and bias as foreigners were given preference instead of locals irrespective of their talent and qualification and that local professional Maldivians were ignored just because of their color of skin. Another criticism was that even though the employees were paid well they were working extended hours and were stressed to deliver impeccable service. Four Seasons at present is one of the leading hotel chains in the world and have easily been considered to be one of the best in the field in comparison to hotel chains like Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Intercontinental, etc. and despite the various criticism Four Seasons has consistently been on the top when it comes to its work culture, thus becoming a globally successful hotel chain. Culture of Four Seasons and comparison to major competitors Four Seasons has always tried to provide its guests with value added service and hassle free stay and by keep this in to their working culture they have earned the reputation of a superior customer service organisation. The Four Seasons had also created more than 247 standards which were meant to identify what the customers should expect to receive in a Four Seasons Hotel. Even with these many standards Four Seasons always believed in empowerment as every employee was given all the rights to do what they felt right and this worked well for the company 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 not waste any time and sent her to the spa while the staff member was patching the torn areas 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 environment where the employees were willing to use their mind in solv ing problems thus reducing the chances for it to escalate. Sharp also believed that loyalty and retention are the key to success, but loyalty to the customers came before the loyalty of the guests. They also truly believed in The Golden Rule and designed their recruitment, selection, training and development of the employees. Four Seasons culture was based on the value each and every employee could bring to the company and did not care about the qualification and experience the candidate had, this turn gave them employees who were willing to challenge themselves and at the same time willing to develop to the betterment 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 make their stay better, this can 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 empowerment where as the other only use it as a form of marketing strategy. The mission 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 states Its about serving the associates, the customer, and the community. Marriotts fundamental beliefs are enduring and the keys to its continued success (Marriott International, 2010), Hyatts mission statement is To provide authentic hospitality by making a difference 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 choice of guests, team members and owners alike (Hilton Worldwide, 2010) and Starwood would like to Create the most successful branded, global, lifestyle hospitality company by forming a trust- and respect-based corporate family committed to re-imagining our b usiness with creativity 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 can get an idea of who really caters to their employees as among the four major hotel chains mentioned only Marriott Hotel has their employees mentioned in their mission statement and even that is only considering that they take care of the associates but does not give an idea 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 means giving the right and authority to an individual to think, behave, take action and make 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 two hotel chains that seem to be empowering their employees to take their own decisions. Empowerment of employees sounds good and will attract employees but the real factor here would be that this would to some extent create a very bias hiring environment in the company as Sharp mentioned that they hire employees with the right attitude for the company and there is little 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 between 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 attitude 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 i s 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 between 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. Another reason for companies trying to incorporate local cultures in the company is because of the Corporate Social Responsibility 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 government, NGOs, suppliers, stakeholders, local residents, etc. would not respect the hotel brand and thus causing future problems. HRM influence on vision, mission values and companys identity Four 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 focus on their employees and promote empowerment in the company, in addition they hire employees based on their attitude and not on their experience and knowledge as they believe that the job can be learnt by training 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, development, etc. criteria they need to follow. The organisation of Four Seasons depend on finding the employees that fit in their culture rather 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 wrong people for the wrong job. To do so Four Seasons has already created a program which begins with h iring talented individuals with the resourcefulness and dedication to perform to their best and the training was began with a three month initial orientation and a supervisor and management development programs, the senior management had their own executive development programs and the employees also received classroom training. The whole employee development program was divided into seven parts being Recruitment, Selection, Orientation, Training, Performance Management, Rewards Recognition, Development Success and Promotion/Transfer each of these programs included their own specific components such as brain storming sessions and extensive interviews for Recruitment, align with strategy, attitude comes first, define required key competencies, 4 stages interview process and Behavioural Interviewing based on defined competencies for Selection, align with strategy, adequate lead time, emphasis on attitude, service teamwork, consistent global approach, multi-lingual Culture film, heavy management involvement buy-in and re-orientation as needed for Orientation, align with strategy, on-line (Standards) program, designated trainers and customers service skills, emphasis on Culture throughout and coordinated efforts for Training, align with strategy, identify key Competencies, Good At not simply Good Person, a ssessment 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 difference for Performance Management, paid vacations and monetary rewards for Rewards Recognition, align with strategy, succession planning, task force work, planned global exposure, multi-ethnic talent for Development Succession and based on performance 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 Syste m (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 optimum 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 actually 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 needs to develop the best possible components for it. Four Seasons have identified nine various components, which give an idea that they as well consider it to be a vital aspect. 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 initiator 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 distrust and deflation of the brand image. 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 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 favourable condit ions 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 international 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 evaluation The 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 put 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 Unique Deep Culture Best-In-Industry Training Luxury Environment Within Magnificent Locations Worldwide Profit Sharing/Incentive Bonus/Competitive Salaries Complimentary Stays At Four Seasons Properties With Discounted Meals Paid Holidays/Vacation Educational Assistance Dental And Medical Insurance/Disability/Life Retirement Benefits/Pension Employee Service Awards Annual Employee Party/Social And Sporting Events Complimentary Meals In Dedicated Employee Restaurants In 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 needs of the employees in terms of the Maslows Hierarchy of Needs we could get a much clear picture. The Maslows Hierarchy of Needs identifies 5 various needs of a human being and that they strive to achieve it throughout their life and these 5 needs will be shown in the figure below. Figure : Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 2009) Maslows Hierarchy of Needs The Maslows Hierarchy of Needs states that there 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, Esteem 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 mainly family and friends (Chapman, 2010). Esteem needs are more psychology based like feeling independent, having high status and prestige, personal achievements, etc (Chapman, 2010). The Self-Actualization needs are the most tough 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). T he Maslows Hierarchy 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 turnover which mainly depends on the benefits that the company offers. To get a comprehensible prospective 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 Benefits  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide  ·Ã‚  Dental and medical   / disability / life insurance  ·Ã‚  Paid holidays / vacation  ·Ã‚  Educational assistance  ·Ã‚  Retirement benefits / pension  ·Ã‚  Complimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurants  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Annual employee party / social and sporting events  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Profit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salaries  ·Ã‚  Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted meals  ·Ã‚  Employee service awards  ·Ã‚  Career growth opportunities  ·Ã‚  Unique deep culture  ·Ã‚  Best-in-industry training  ·Ã‚  Luxury environment in magnificent locations worldwide In the above figure the writer 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 years Four 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 behind 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 effects of perusing 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 effect 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 stocks and ultimately causing Four Seasons a final blow. This at the end would bring t he 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 money 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 outside 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. Talent 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 maintenance 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 areas and conducts reviews on the varies areas so provide input for future implementation (TalentAlign, 2010). Figure : Talent Management Concept http://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, development, 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 chan ging 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 embracing 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 after 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 consuming 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