HR Practices Of Four Seasons

HR Pr workices Of tetrad SeasonsIntroductionNowadays the range of luxury hotels whole over the world is very big. thither are different types of luxury hotels and only of them have their own constitution, procedures and missions. Competition among these benignants of hotels is huge nowadays. The competition is found not on prices or percentage of discounts barely it is based on values, exclusivity, atmosphere and quality of serve well. One of these competitors is world known, luxury brand cardinal Seasons Hotels and indemnifys. However quadruple Seasons Hotels and Resorts managed to differentiate them from all other competitors in the Hotel Industry. In quaternity Seasons, steering has a huge value of their employees, because they know that the power of service is in mankind resources. Human Recourse counselling in quadruple Seasons Hotels and Resorts definitely plays very classical role for providing success of the company and delivering premises to their employee s and customers. The fol small(a)ing research provides readers with full picture of Human Resource Management Policy of Four Seasons hotels and Resorts. Also accessional recommendations and comments are given in decree to clarify the policy and mission of Human Resource Management. The research includes quin important questions about HRM. Answers for these questions can be used as tools to improve the human resource policy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. As for readers the research will attention them to understand the value and mission of Human Resource Management in hospitality Industry.Introduce the caller-up and its sends in the Hospitality Industry. Is it an employer of choice?Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Company was founded in 1960 by Isadore Sharp and positioned as luxury hotel chain. The scratch hotel was opened in 1961 in the downtown area of Toronto, Canada. Isadore Sharp started a impertinently kind of luxury hotels by making it personalized, taking care of each customer and offering an excellent service for their guests. For funds Sharp involved his brother-in-law, Eddie Creed and his friend, Maurry Koffler. from each one of them contributed to the project. From 1970 till 1976 there were opened some(prenominal) Four season Hotels and resorts in London, Ontario and Bahamas. In 1976 Four Seasons hotels and Resorts grew and decided to expand in North America. So in 1976 they entered the US market in San-Francisco. So in 1977, Isadore Sharp along with Creed and Korrler decided to convert Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts into private company. Four Seasons has created a new niche in luxurious segment of Hospitality Industry, so provided themselves with a great opportunity to grow. In 1986 the company went public, by being presented on profligate market, but in 2007 it became private company again. By 1991 the company had roughly 36 hotels all over the world and around 13 sales and somatic offices. However Four Seasons faced with some financial issues and was rescued by investor from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Prince Al-Waleed. In 1994 he purchased 25 percent of Four Seasons stocks and invested around C$100 million. After investing by Saudi Prince, the Four Seasons happend their expiation and opened new properties in Singapore, Mexico City, Berlin and Prague. In mid-nineties, whole hotel pains faced a downturn. As a result Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts turned to managing style rather owning hotels because it was oft more profitable in the long run. (Four Seasons Hotels Incs HR Practice., 2009). Nowadays Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has 84 properties all over the world with liquid ecstasy service and very clear companys subtlety. Nowadays Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has several competitors in Hospitality Industry. They are Fairmont Hotels, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.Positions of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are very strong now. Despite on financial problems they faced in 1994, Four Seasons managed to stabilize and continue growing in hospitality industry. Four Seasons continues to have more of its hotels designated as AAA fivesome Diamond properties than any other hotel company and it has the most Mobil Five Star awards in the industry. The company is as well consistently highly ranked in readers surveys in publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Institutional Investor, Andrew Harpers Hideaway cover up and the Zagat Survey. (Hospitalitynet, 2010).First of all, the writer would give care to give the definition of terminus Employer of choice. Any employer of any size in the public, private, or not-for-profit sector that attracts, optimize and holds top endowment for long tenure, because the employees choose to be there. (Herman and Gioia, 2002, p. xi). Personalized service is a whimsical feature of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. But in order to cod the service unique for their guests, the company pays attention to their employees. Four seasons Management teams do value their staff and serve them as guests, also with uniqueness. As one of employees said Youre never threated like just and employee. You are a guest. (Four Seasons Hotels Incs HR Practice., 2009). This is the one and the most important reason why Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts became an Employer of choice. The company is recognized by many public magazines as an Employer of Choice. For example, since 1998 Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are among 100 The best Companies to Work for, by Fortune Magazine. In 2009 Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Company was awarded The best Workplace by long Place to Work Institute Canada. Later in 2009 the Company was awarded Lifetime Commitment Award by National Society of Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH). In addition they were awarded Inductee to Canadas 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures Hall of Fame 2010. Also Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts pay a lot of attention to trainings and development prog rams, thus in 2010 the company was listed in Training top 125 by Training Magazine. (FourSeason, 2010). As Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in an international company and has many hotels all over the world, some of Four Seasons properties were also recognized by leading tourism and hospitality magazines. For example Four Seasons Hotels in the United Kingdom were The trump out place to Work in Hospitality in 2008 Four Seasons Hotel Dublin received Business Award Status, based on the Hotels best practices in recruitment and Selection and Learning, Development and Progression in 2008 Four Seasons Hotel Prague was awarded as Company of the Year 2008. This award is given to the companies who supporting the employment of hearing-challenged individuals. (FourSeason, 2010). All these awards and recognitions are the important indicator of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts goal and a result of well-organized corporate environment.Explain its culture, its unique to the Company, how does this vary from its major competitors.Four Seasons Hotels and resorts has their own and unique service culture. The culture is mainly based on Golden Rule by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. The philosophy of Golden Rule is very simple and clear. As the CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Isadore Shard defined it The Golden Rule do unto others, as you would have them to do unto you (Four Seasons Hotels Incs HR Practice., 2009). According to Mr. Sharp definition it is very important to treat everyone guests, colleagues and partners as you would want them to treat you. Within Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts the Golden Rule applied to every person in the company and it does not matter whether you are manager or front line employee. What Four Seasons calls its unique service culture is based on a series of insights and beliefs about the person who provides the act of service, and the one who receives it. In writers opinion, the Golden Rule makes the uniqueness and creating a very imper ious atmosphere within all company and all properties around the world. The intent below represents the forming of the culture. (Scheme 1)Scheme 1As readers can see from the Scheme 1 there are several move leading to the organizational culture. The first step is Philosophy of companys founder. As it was mentioned above Mr. sharp has his own philosophy of service and companys culture which is based on making the service exclusive and personalized. By implementing his own view of the service into Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Companys structure, Isadore Sharp has created absolutely new type of culture not only for his personal need but also for whole the company. The undermentioned step is Selection Criteria, which is based on recruiting and plectrum of candidates. As we know from the case-study of Four Seasons Hotels Inc., each potential candidate for any position in four seasons Hotels and Resorts had to pass through five interviews and the final one was with the General Manag er of the Hotel. In the example above readers can see that selection process in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is very difficult. It means that the company needs the best employees from the best. The selection process is very important for the company, because managers look for really professionalized persons or persons who have potential to learn and to be trained. The thing is that Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts based on personal service, thats why they have such complicated selection process. The next steps of analyzing Four Seasons culture are Top Management and Socialization. Top Management plays very important role in forming companys culture. As readers can see, in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Company, senior executives help to establish behavioral standards that can be adopted by the company. Socialization is a process which helps new employees to adopt into companys culture and implement skills and advantages in practice, by making service in Four Seasons Hotels and Re sorts personalized. In addition the Socialization step can be separated into several stages like Pre-arrival stage, Encounter stage and Metamorphosis stage. All these stages directly helps in the process of forming the culture of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.In writers opinion, Four Seasons company culture is much differentiated form its main competitors. As an example, the companys culture of Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Resorts is based on Gold Standards of the company. Gold Standards consist of six parts which includes the credo, the motto of the company, the three steps of service, service values, the 6th diamonds and the employee promises. (Gold Standards of Ritz-Carlton, 2010). As if follows, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton cultures are focused on making the service they provide more personalized, but in addition Four Seasons hotels and Resorts are focused on their employees. As a result, readers can make a conclusion that in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the culture is as gues ts oriented as employees oriented. To prove this statement, the writer would like to present a phrase maintained in the case-study Loyalty to guests is important, but employees come first. (Four Seasons Hotels Incs HR Practice., 2009). One of the most important Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts differences from major competitors is that the company is more employees oriented rather other companies in Hospitality industry. As a result it attracts more and more employees to juncture Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.How does HRM fit into the companys vision, mission values? Do these reflect a strategic purpose? How does HRM fit into the overall identity of the company, its managers and employees, make recommendations for any melioration and justify these.Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts haves their own vision, mission and values which are behead on Golden Rule. From HRM point of view, it directly into companys values, vision and mission. From the strategic nature of HRM in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, they deal with day-to-day issues, but it is also proactive in nature and integrated with other management functions. In addition HRM makes more delicate strategic view of human resource in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. From the recruitment point of view, human resource management makes sophisticated recruitment for all employees. In addition it has strong internal labour market for core employees. (Henderson, 2008). One of the most important values of Four Seasons hotels and Resorts is empowerment. HRM is responsible for delivering this feature to employees vision. Empowerment is management responsibility of sharing information, rewards, and power with employees so that they can take personal initiative and make decisions to solve problems and issues of the guests and improve service quality and performance of the company. It is based concept of giving employees the skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as well giving them responsibilities of their actions. (BusinessDictionary, 2010). In Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts management pay lots of attention to empowerment because it helps to development the level of service and in addition it makes employees feeling more responsible and important for the company. Thats why in all Four Seasons properties employees can act and take decisions independently. It means that for human recourse management, employees satisfaction is very important as guests satisfaction. Based on this writer can definitely say that Human Resource Management make big contribution into companys vision, value and mission. In Human Resource Management, trainings play also an important role in employees development and success. As for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, trainings are transformed into learning and development philosophy transcending job-related training programs. The advantage of trainings in Four Seasons is that all trainings are designed foal all levels of employees including non-management . In addition trainings are designed to develop leadership and personal skills. For example Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has a special program designed for graduates of hotel schools. Applying to Manager In Training Programs (MIT) is meant that candidates has the emplacement to be trained, accept Golden Rule and successfully implement it in their job. (Manager In Training Programms, 2010).In order to improve HRM policy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resort the writer would suggest several steps to make it more balanced between guest oriented policy and employees oriented policy. Four Seasons are nerve-racking to balance these two subjects, but it seems that they are a bit confused about it. The solution of this issue is to provide more benefits for their employees. First of all it would increase the flow of qualified persons who have ability to be learnt. From the other hand it would motivate employees to increase their level of education, to apply for mote training programs in ord er to get career development in the future. The third advantage of increasing employees benefits is that this would change and directly review the policy of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts thus make it more employees oriented. But for the other hand the company should not forget about their main goals personalized service for each customer. That is why Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts make their employees empowered. The HRM policy of the company is also based on forwarding employees to the right way, the way of Golden Rule. They dont do anything special, but their work is not easy, because Human Resource surgical incision is the first who faced with employees challenges and in addition they have to bring the ideas and values of Golden Rules into employees minds, in order to reach companys goals which are based on exclusive and personalized service in all Four seasons Hotels and Resorts.Does it have effective policies and procedures in HRM? Critically evaluate the ones you have i dentified.As readers can see from examples above, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts have very specific HRM policy. The thing is that in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Human Resource Management is based on standards, but they dont have lots of rules. As they prefer personalized customer service they do empower their employees, so they can act in any situations. This allows employees to take actions and to feel free to resolve all customers needs. As in all situations, there is a risk of making wrong decision. The employee will be responsible for this, but in all cases the company can lose their customer which will affect the company as a whole. As Human Resource policy in Four Seasons Hotels and resorts is more companys philosophy orientated the employee turnover is just a half compared with the whole industry. Four Seasons created their own niche in the hospitality industry. Nowadays Four Seasons Hotels and resort has several main competitors. From HRM point of view, employees benef its are one of the most attractive parts for people who are interested in joining company. The term employees benefits is common for all industries. Employee benefits are all benefits and services, other from wages for time worked, that are provided to employees in whole or in part by their employers. (Definition of Employee benefits, 2010). Below, the researcher presented the table of benefits, which presents the whole picture of benefits policy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and its main competitor Ritz-Carlton. The table will help readers to analyze and examine employee benefits of two main competitors in luxury mid-size hotel niche. In addition both competitors use management contracts model of managing properties. This is very good decision. The thing is that there are several recent examples that cross-file that franchising method of managing properties doesnt work in a proper way nowadays.Development of employees commitment or allegiance directly depends on job conditio ns provided by employer. That is why providing basic benefits in necessary for big companied like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. But in order to attract more employees whey included more benefits in basic conditions. Definitely this action would influence the flow of employees and would increase motivation, which will positive effect the company.Table 1BenefitsHotel BrandsFour Seasons Hotels and ResortsRitz-Carlton Hotels and Resorts passage growth opportunitiesCareer growth/promotions opportunitiesUnique deep cultureDiscounts on spa treatmentsBest-in Industry trainingChildcare discountsLuxury environment in magnificent locations world goodTuition reimbursementProfit sharing / incentive bonus / competitive salariesIncome replacement programs (both short and long-term constipation)Complimentary stays at Four Seasons properties with discounted mealsDiscounted accommodation in all Ritz-Carlton Hotels and ResortsPaid holidays / vacationPaid vacation, sick and holiday leaveEducationa l assistanceHealth and wellness insurance programsDental and medical / disability / life insuranceLife/health/dental/vision insuranceRetirement benefits / pensionRetirement savings and profit sharing plansEmployee service awardshealth care and dependent care spending accountsAnnual employee party / social and sporting eventsService anniversary awardsComplimentary meals in dedicated employee restaurantsComplimentary or low cost meals in your Employee Dining Room(Four Seasons Benefits, 2010), (Ritz-Carlton Understand Benefits, 2010)After careful comparison of both employees benefits, readers can define several differences, which directly influence the loyalty of employees. In order to make HRM policy more reliable, writer would suggest to enlarge number of benefits. In addition increasing different incentives for line-staff employees would also positive effect Human Resource policy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.If you were the VP of HRM how would you move the company forward in t he next five years?Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is very unquestionable luxury hotel chain.