This paper gives a brief overview of a HRM strategy for the Marriott chain of hotels and resorts. The Marriott must maintain the highest quality standards in the industry. To do so they should employ a TQM strategy to ensure constant quality improvement. This also allows them to employer their employees so that they can handle customer demands more efficiently.
Marriott
HRM and Business Strategy
The Marriott Hotels and Resorts is a high end hotel chain that operates in numerous locations and cultures around the globe. Hotel locations reside in roughly fifty different countries and at over five hundred locations. Not only does the Marriot operate under its own brand, but it also owns other hotel brands such as the Ritz-Carlton; however these organizations operate as a completely independent division of the Marriott International parent company. Each Marriott hotel location offers a different range of services such as spa treatments, golf facilities, as well as luxury condominiums. The Marriott must provide world-class customer service at all times to ensure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. To support this position, Marriott must have a human resources management (HRM) strategy that empowers its employees to ensure that they are well equipped to handle a wide range of consumer needs and demands.
HRM Strategy
The Marriott's business model is focused on a target market that expects high quality service and luxury accommodations. The organization explains its focus in the market as follows (Marriott, N.d.):
We believe our strength is rooted in our core values: putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity and serving our world. These values are our legacy and our future. As we pursue our vision of making Marriott the #1 hospitality company in the world, we never lose sight of our founding principles and our proud heritage. Our business is always evolving…but we'll always stay true to who we are.
The challenge for the Marriott in regard to their HRM policy will undoubtedly focus on maintaining a world-class staff that consistently provides quality service. The Marriott has multiple employees in over fifteen different business functions and these employees must work in unison to ensure quality (Marriott, N.d.). To maintain this level of service it requires an elite human resource program that can attract and train some of the best in the industry. One way that hotels can empower their employees to meet customer expectations is to implement a total quality management (TQM) approach (Partlow, 1993). In this environment I believe that the Human Resources Manager position would both be the most interesting and the most challenging or the HR positions as they must ensure that employees can meet the quality standards.
TQM is more of a process than an end. It involves improving quality in every aspect of operations as well as demands that the organization continues learning on a perpetual basis. Therefore, with a TQM approach in mind, the Marriott must not only attract the top talent in the industry but they must also provide their staff both the training and the resources to service clients effectively. The staff at Marriott must be able to service customer needs quickly and efficiently without having to seek approval from management. Since the staff is given such a high level of trust, human resources must ensure that these individuals are of sufficient character to act responsibly.
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