Case Study On Strategic Human Resources Management Initiative

Selection at Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Section 1: Executive Summary
For a team writing project on Strategic Human Resource Initiatives we are picking the Hyatt Hotel Corporation, and in particular this essay is focused on their SELECTION process and how to change the current one and/or introduce new practices to guarantee the corporation can keep its leading role among the current global hotel brands. In particular the new designed selection process must contribute to three major goals of the Hyatt Hotel Corporation, they want to enhance their revenues, they want to continue their expansion to the BRIC countries (Brazil – Russia – India – China) and they want to implement their environmental sustainability strategy for the year 2020.
In order to this, at first we are having a look at the external environment. What are the trends of the hospitality industry, in 2015 and beyond? Studies of consulting companies and specialists’ opinions are being considered. In Section 3 – the core of this piece of writing – we are proposing the different initiatives to be implemented in Hyatt’s Human Resources strategies – define new selection criteria/tools and update current staff, harmonize selection with the overall recruitment strategy, invest in training in the years to come for all staff to be on the same level. Finally in Section 5 we are drawing conclusions and presenting the Sources used for this report.

Section 2: Company Overview

Challenges of the Hospitality Industry
The Hospitality Industry in 2015 according to the consultancy Deloitte will be marked by several major trends and how the industry can adapt to them (for a good overview of challenges also cp. McGuire 2015). In particular we will have in the developing countries better to understand the Generation of the Baby Boomers who will be able to spend more on travel and in rising economies such as China and India the industry needs to adapt to the growing number of domestic travelers (Kyriakidis et al. 2014). It will be the challenge of the hospitality brands to engage these customers, for example with loyalty programs, and they will need the talent to deliver the brand (more on the talent point among the next headline – see Kyriakidis et al. 2014). Industry leaders will need to deliver their brand online with over 2 billion people being active there, on the internet will emerge a new kind of self – confident traveler who immediately can detect deviations between promises and realities. Hotel luxury chains will continue to be depending on their core – clientele as well as will continue the scarce budgets of corporate travel spending (Kyriakidis et al. 2014). To stay ahead of your competition in hospitality we need measures concerning the customer (budget hotel brands, loyalty programs in all levels, understanding different lifestyles and approaching them with multi – channel approach) and concerning the business (Talent Management, incentives for environmentally friendly brand, integrated IT systems, improve cost and risk management) (Kyriakidis et al. 2014).

General Human Resource Requirements

Hospitality industry needs to reduce employee turnover, as guest satisfaction and employee retention/ employee brand identification depends on each other, so for the staff in hospitality there need to be identified better ways to recruit, reward and retain the most talented members. This is to be implemented for all types of jobs of course, and for each trend specific measures are to be taken, e. g. better integrated IT systems require more IT specialists (Kyriakidis et al. 2014).

Section 3: SHRM Initiatives to improve Hyatt Hotel’s Corporation SELECTION to be ahead of the competition the year 2015 and beyond

SHRM Initiative 1: Define and Redefine standardized Selection Criteria across the brand
We have previously learned what is needed for Hyatt Hotel’s Corporation to stay “ahead of the game” in the year 2015 and beyond and in a first step we will need to re – think what kind of employees we want to newly select to make this change happen. A mix of the most common selection tools – structured interviews, ability tests and background checks – should be applied to any candidate whose resume promises to fit the job description. The hotel’s associates according to Hyatt’s strategy are creating “the hotel experience” for the guests (cp. Competitive Strengths Hyatt 2015), so all staff, teamwork, it support and process orientated aspects of the selection criteria – across the brand considering each country’s specific’s - must be adapted accordingly to the described trends. For example, Hyatt in China/India needs to be the preferred hotel destination for the growing domestic travelers (as described earlier). This will be the key for a successful expansion of Hyatt to the BRIC countries. Thus, the selection criteria there must give a high focus on domestic experience and past contributions to solving this issue. This will – most likely - reduce employee turnover as new hires will work in their fields of expertise and increase revenues and profitability, as current markets for Hyatt can be better penetrated – a true support of the business through Human Resources.
SHRM Initiative 2: Prepare and Coordinate the Implementation of a new standardized Set of Selection Tools across the brand – let know current staff for everyone to be on the same level
The second Strategic Human Resources Management Initiative I would like to propose tackles in fact two key issues for the HR Selection process at Hyatt Hotel’s Corporation – Selecting the people that will make the necessary changes happen and training the people that you already have working for you to be on one level with new hires. A radical change of selection criteria – according to explained major trends in hospitality industry – needs to go hand in hand with change management across the existing staff.
Tools of selection for new employees should be introduced and standardized to both Recruiters and Hiring Managers of Hyatt, by preferably externally to be hired Change Management specialists, across the brand considering country – specific differences. Ideally they contain a lot of information flow from Hyatt to candidate and candidate to Hyatt – already starting to build the culture of preferred “Hotel experiences” (cp. Competitive Strengths Hyatt 2015) – containing already the mix of measures required for the “new game” in hospitality (cp. Kyriakidis et al. 2014). For example, new Hyatt Hotel’s associates are communicating written and verbally according to the highest standards with Business travelers, Executives and Top - Executives often, therefore the concrete selection procedure must make sure to include extensive testing of the communication skills of the candidates, and ask for exemplary pieces of previous outstanding communication at their work. This way Hyatt Hotel corporation will select the staff capable to achieve the three major goals of the chain – Enhancing Revenues (because core clients are more attracted from staff’s communication skills), Expanding to BRIC countries (because staff is able to offer the missing room capabilities in the respective countries) and to implement the Environment strategy for the year 2020 (because newly selected staff acts conscious of the environment).
Hyatt’s Brands must show clear drive for “Satisfaction” (cp. Competitive Strengths Hyatt 2015), so there should be put correspondingly exemplary questions of previous achievements to create and implement the most satisfying brands within hospitality industry into the interview. At the same time – with the same importance – changing selection procedures might not encourage your courant staff. Plan trainings on the new selection criteria and tools for your existing staff and invest in their virtual/face – to – face learning, to have everyone at the same level. This, as with all proposed initiatives, will result in selecting the staff who can make Hyatt stay ahead of the trends
SHRM Initiative 3: Harmonize new Selection Process with current global Recruitment processes, make updates on current processes when/where necessary and develop the competencies of the future
The Selection process and the term “recruitment” are both used to describe the entire process of “attracting and choosing candidates for employment“ and with previously described new selection criteria and tools we need to adapt and harmonize the entire process flow (cp. Business Dictionary 2015), always keeping in mind and achieving our 3 overall goals to their achievement we want to contribute to with our new Selection initiatives. Talent Sourcing professionals of Hyatt Hotel Corporation need to be made aware and intensively educated on the new guidelines, and so need the Talent Developers of Hyatt to know that their projects aim on developing new competencies among the staff. On the contrast to SHRM no. 2 where we spoke about trainings for current staff to know about new selection criteria and tools – SHRM 3 is going truly deeply into the Hyatt Hotel Corporation’s strategy of the next 5 years. SHRM no. 2 means to update and let know your staff, SHRM no. 3 means to develop the competencies among your staff, and make changes in processes & organization for Hyatt Hotel to implement the new Selection and a new overall Talent strategy. Let us make an example to illustrate better. Hyatt Hotels in risky regions, such as the Middle East, suffer from lack of prosperous clients visiting them during one of the countless crises. We are going to hire risk management professionals to totally challenge and redefine the risk strategies within the region, but EQUALLY, we are going to put risk management higher on the regional staff’s training agenda – on the job and in the classroom. Extending the team to outside of Hyatt’s staff – for example by booking more profitable business together with the Online Travel Agencies, and thus to reduce your risk by outsourcing it, is part of the agenda, too. (Cp. Explanation of Rauch 2014 on the collaboration with Travel Agencies).

Section 4: Conclusions

Conclusions from the findings can be made quite a few. Hyatt Hotel Corporation is a globally preferred brand for prosperous and exclusive clients, and has been very successful for a long time already. However hospitality industry has been undergoing a major transformation and the same major players are not going to be the same in the next decades. Just to mention a few, budget hotel brands are booming around the globe, the customer has become way more informed and confident making the brand promises and realities instantly visible, different generations are spending more money on travelling (e. g. “Baby Boomers in USA/Europe or domestic travelers in China/India) and many more. Hyatt Hotel Corporation may be prepared for some of the described trends, but not all. The key to implementing them successfully lies in selection, as this processes decides what competencies the local staff will need to show, what the people that are the ultimate creators of the “the hotel experience” for the current and future guests of Hyatt hotels. Changing selection procedures such as criteria or tools goes hand in hand with an overall harmonization of the entire global recruitment process of Hyatt Hotels – considering cultural differences – and also with the talent development processes. What chaos we would create if new hires are professionals according to new trends within hospitality and they are always fighting uneducated traditional stuff with not fresh skills and knowledge?
All the initiatives proposed mean cost for Hyatt. Salaries are usually always the first idea in managers’ minds when it comes to cutting, therefore proposed new recruitment processes and hiring specialists in the relevant fields of the future, and eventually paying their salaries, is likely to have to go hand in hand with cutting on more traditional antiquated roles.

Section 5: References

Business Dictionary 2015, accessed on March 19th, 2015 online on: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/recruitment-and-selection.html
Competitive Strengths Hyatt 2015, accessed on March 18th, 2015 online on: http://www.hyattdevelopment.com/competitive_strengths/sales_and_marketing.html
Kyriakidis et al. 2014, “Hospitality 2015 Game changers or spectators”, accessed on March 16th, 2015 online on: http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/mt/Documents/about-deloitte/dt-hospitality-2015.pdf
McGuire 2015, Specialist’s Blog entry (08.01.2015) accessed on March 18th, 2015 online on: http://blogs.sas.com/content/hospitality/2015/01/08/the-15-actions-for-hospitality-executives-to-take-in-2015/
Rauch 2014, Specialist’s Blog entry (08.12.2014) accessed on March 19th, 2015 online on: http://www.4hoteliers.com/features/article/8736