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作業封面

Cover Sheet of the Assignment

學生姓名 

STUDENT NAMEGARGI GUHA

 

功課數字WORD COUNT

3000

 課程名稱PROGRAMME Master of Business Administration

 

科目名稱 

MODULE TITLE C3 Management of Human and Organisational Resources

 

科目導師 

MODULE TUTOR Dr Gilbert Lo

 

作 業 標 題 

ASSIGNMENT TITLEHANDOUT DATE 派巻日期

SUBMISSION DATE 交巻日期

CONTRIBUTION TO OVERALLMODULE/UNIT ASSESSMENT %

20 February 2011 25 July 2011 100 %

 

遲交功課處罰方式 

PENALTIES FOR LATESUBMISSION

功課遲交一至七天：最高分數為合格 

功課遲交多過七天：分數不合格Up to one week late: Pass maximum grade awardedOver one week late: Fail grade awarded

 

RESULT

RESULT

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附錄一︰作業聲明的樣本Appendix 1: Sample Declaration

Master of BusinessAdministration

學員須在作業第二頁內列印以下句子:  YOU MUST PRINT ON PAGE 2 OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT AS THE

FOLLOWING:

“我證實此功課乃本人學術研究的結果，另作聲明者除外。所有參考資料均己適”當引述。

“I certify this work is the result of my own investigations, except whereotherwise stated. All references have been duly cited”

……………………………………………………………………………………簽名

Signed…………………………………………………………………………………

List of Contents

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Executive Summary

Purpose of research

Key Findings

Concise summary of whole proposal

Introduction

Overview of the Marriott Philosophy

Renaissance Brand of Marriott

Renaissance Harbourview Hongkong

Literature Review

Management Dilemma

Management Question

Research Questions

Research and Discussion

Research Objectives

Background of the hotel industry – Brands

Recent trends - Rise of a new trend of Lifestyle hotels

Creating an outward atmosphere of relaxed chic and inward culture of employee

engagement

Culture sweep - change management at Renaissance Harbourview by Human

Resources.

Conclusion and Recommendations

References

Executive Summary

 As organizations extend their reach beyond national boundaries, leaders of global 

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organizations need to deal with greater diversity in terms of workforce, consumers,legal systems, and institutional frameworks. A deep understanding of cultures around 

the world becomes imperative for effective leadership.Earley, Ang, Tan(2006), 1st Edition, Stanford University Press.

With the continuous evolving of the organizational world, companies are continuouslycalled upon to become more focused on customer demands and respond to rapid

changes.

In this paper, we will examine the restructuring of the organizational culture of the

Renaissance Hotel in Hongkong, one of the brands of the prestigious Marriott group.

With a view to rebrand the property as an intimate, lifestyle hotel, closer to the guest

needs, Renaissance Harborview undertook a clever culture sweep strategy to align the

employees with the new branding.

Some of the key findings were that despite the changed marketing tools and

introduction of two new restaurants, it was the internal culture change that broughtabout a whole new shift in the perspective of the guest as they viewed the hotel.

It would be safe to state that the human resources side of the management was privy

to most of the re-structuring process decisions with consistent and continuous inputs

from senior management. With guidance from the human resources leaders of the

company, employees were able to gain clear directives and implement those changes

while re-inventing the culture and approach to modern day needs of the traveler.

Introduction

In the present scenario of changing dynamics, one of the major challenges

experienced by companies in both developed and emerging economies is to re-

engineer companies as more flexible and adaptable to changing customer needs and

new challenges.

What is organizational culture?

The values and  behaviors  that  contribute to the unique social and   psychological  environment of an organization.

Organizational   culture is the  sum  total  of an  organization's past and  current  assumptions , experiences  , philosophy, and values that hold it together, and is

expressed in its self-image, inner workings , interactions with the outside world  , and 

 future expectations.(Drafke, (2009), 10th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall)

Often it is noted, that organization to de-centralise decision-making is the first step to

usher new cultural change. Decision-making authority enables those closest to the

customer more responsive and prompt. This is the basis of the Marriott philosophy

that acknowledges that staff who are referred to as "associates", are the bedrock of the

company. This translates itself into an enhanced customer base and community

network and participation.

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The Marriott group has different brands that appeal to different market segments.

While the JW Marriott brand, the flagship brand is more luxe and for the discerning

traveler, packed with gleam and glamour, the Courtyard by Marriott brand is more

functional and ideal for business travelers. But, in step with the needs of today’s

intrepid traveler who seeks out the refreshing ‘new’, the Renaissance brand reachesthe mark as an intriguing and rejuvenating destination in itself. With a strong flavor 

and identity of its own, it looks to emerge as market leader with a vibrant, individual

and fresh culture within.

Acquired by international hotel management group Marriott International in 1997, the

Renaissance Harborview Hongkong started operating under the Renaissance brand

umbrella the following year. But in 2011, it is truly re-inventing itself with a wide

spectrum change in the organizational culture.

Literature Review

‘One of the objectives for our recent re-branding exercise was therefore to give Renaissance a unique, more vibrant, individual identity—one that responds to thekind of service required by sophisticated pleasure seekers who look for novel ideas

and exciting experiences during their stay at our hotel’ - Gary Siu, Director of Human Resources

http://www.careertimes.com.hk/english/article/show_article.asp?

category_id=1019&article_id=13875&title=identity-

exploration&listby=date&listby_id=

Management Dilemma

Getting a new makeover for an established brand operating in Hongkong since 1998.

Management Question

How to market the rebranding internally and externally?

Research Questions

-

- What do guests want in the changing hotel landscape?

- How to physically or tangibly change or enhance the existing image so guests

would perceive it differently?

- How to align existing staff with the wind of change?- Does organizational culture help to enhance employee performance?

Major industries have ascertained that an effective organizational culture has a

definite positive impact on employee performance and productivity. In the hotel

industry, this rings truer than true as it is majorly a people driven industry, with

customer needs and demands revolving around basic elements of shelter, food and

other basic human amenities.

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Interlinked Elements of an Organization - Rubicon’s model of 

integrated development

Fig 1. (Robbins,(1997), 4th Edition, Prentice Hall)

The diagram shows how the key elements of an organization are interdependent.

Structure, Culture and Process are embedded into each other’s end and start terms

and thus comprise of an organization’s existence and make-up.

Internal Influencing and getting a general buy-in on culture change

The most crucial angle in the rebranding of organization culture drive is the selling of 

the concept internally. In fact, it might be classified as the basis of the success of a

certain organizational culture. Impacting and influencing the existing fabric of ‘done

things’ in an operating hotel proved to be the most interesting facet of this project.

 It is important to remember that no matter where you are in the organization, you are

trying to influence people. If you are managing you use both position power and  personal power to influence the people who report directly. When attempting toinfluence your supervisor, senior executives and associates however, you must 

depend almost exclusively on personal power.Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson (2001), Pearson Prentice Hall.

The following figure(Figure2) depicts Selling up/Managing Down from Paul Hersey,

Situational Selling (Escondido, CA: Centre for Leadership studies, 1985)

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The purpose of the research therefore, is to help ascertain the major areas of 

organization culture and how the Renaissance Harborview took the project seriously

with a view to impact the industry with lasting changes.

Marketing the culture concept internally

To provide alignment, Renaissance Hong Kong staff members are now guided by 20meticulously defined "R-ways". With a view to inculcating this R-way culture and 

adding more zing to the corporate campaign, the hotel invited all its associates to an R-way cocktail reception cum celebration party in its grand ballroom where

managers hit the catwalk with key principles of the 20 R-ways.http://www.careertimes.com.hk/english/article/show_article.asp?

category_id=1019&article_id=13875&title=identity-

exploration&listby=date&listby_id

We may like to note that the R-way corporate campaign was first introduced to the

staff through a cocktail reception. This may be likened to a soft opening of a hotelthereof, where the concept is softly, inadvertently and cleverly marketed to the

audience and their acceptance sought. For an organizational culture to gain

acknowledgement and general acceptance it has to be launched or introduced in a

 proper fashion. This marks the start of a change period, informally whereby

employees have a sense of what is to follow within the organization.

"Part of the objective was to create a buzz and the rest was to have some fun," says

Mr Siu, whose football-themed rendition of "R-way 18—being a team player" gavethe very concept additional meaning.

http://www.careertimes.com.hk/english/article/show_article.asp?

category_id=1019&article_id=13875&title=identity-

exploration&listby=date&listby_id

  Managing

Selling

Leadership=Influence

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Consistent stirring in of the ‘new’ culture trends

After employees warmed up to the new idea, they were briefed and each one run

through his/her job duty and the rationale behind the rebranding.

As the hotel tweaks its external repositioning as an individual, distinct and vibrant

hotel, it must not forget that this message would be first imparted to the guest by the

front line staff who, if not in sync with the new style of operation would negate the

impact of the reinvention altogether.

Using Motivation as a tool

The Human Resources and management team of Renaissance Harborview Hotel also

saw this as a chance to up the ante of the staff while congratulating them for their 

dedication. Staff morale was pumped up and a general upbeat feeling of recognition

saw the embers of staff buying into the vision seamlessly. This is also the hallmark of the Marriott contributive culture and a reason for the success and popularity of the

group through its guests.

The Marriott Culture

Marriott Culture is the experience we create for our customers, which isdemonstrated by the behavior of our associates. It is people serving people

Marriott's strong corporate culture and inspiring core values are keys to our continued growth and associate satisfaction.http://www.marriott.com/corporateinfo/culture/default.mi

For decades, the Marriott culture and the ‘spirit to serve’ has been fostered by its

deeply entrenched values of creating the right atmosphere, work conditions, core

values within its hotels spanning locations and spreading across its varied brands.

This transcends into the society at large and creates a community of sharing and

harmony. Positioned in between this, is the satisfied customer who returns with

 business and thus increases market share.

One of the core principles of the Marriott culture is its focus on diversity. Across the

globe, the Marriott culture of inclusion lends its dynamism to a contributive work atmosphere, whereby associates add value to the process simply by being themselves

and doing their functions in an engaged manner. Employees are rewarded on merit

and calibre and a clear career path is offered for every employee based on

 performance and the spirit to shine their potential.

On a Social level, the Marriott culture spreads through values of partnership with

local communities and significant importance in placed on conserving the fabric of 

society while improving upon any areas that fall short of basic level of human

existence.

Marriott’s social responsibility commitment blends corporate financial contributionswith in-kind giving and the volunteer service of our employees around the world.

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Marriott serves its communities through these signature issues:

• Shelter and Food 

•  Environment 

•  Readiness for Hotel Careers

• Vitality of Children

•  Embracing Global Diversity and Inclusionhttp://www.marriott.com/corporateinfo/culture/default.mi

Research and Discussion

Research Objective – 

Primarily the main objective of this paper is to establish the pattern of organizational

culture within Renaissance Harborview Hongkong Hotel, a hotel that has beenoperating since 1998 and bracing itself to the challenges of the new dynamics of a fast

changing hotel industry. A re-branding and repositioning organizational culture within

the company has been engineered since the start of 2011.

Our aims will be to ascertain -

• The organizational culture of the company

• How organizational culture translates into enhanced service and employee

 performance

• Shining the organizational culture through guest perceptions

Background of the Hotel Industry – Creating Brands

Brands play a big role in our decision making and identification process. But just

what IS a brand?

 A collection of images and ideas representing a company; more specifically, it refers

to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service.

( www.wikipedia.com )

Brands in the hotel industry signify a lifestyle and most essentially its people.

Therefore, we may safely assume that the Organizational culture of a hotel most

certainly lends to its branding.

Recent trends - Rise of a new trend of Lifestyle hotels

The evolution of internet has given rise to a phenomenon where travelers are

 becoming ever more demanding and discerning. A shift of such a sort means that

travelers are seeking more for an authentic experience by way of small, intimate

lifestyle hotels rather than luxury large five size star properties.

The emphasis then turns solely on creating that ‘experience’ for the guest where

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he/she can experience a ‘home away from home’ feeling within top-notch

surroundings with a spin on ‘living’ the local culture.

 Lifestyle hotels cater to guests seeking a heightened travel experience, which they

deliver by offering distinctive—some would say avant-garde, or even outrageous— architecture, room design, amenities, and entertainment. In this respect, lifestyle

hotels share some of the attributes of boutique hotels, but boutique hotels are usually smaller, independently owned one-offs, which is not necessarily the case with lifestyle

hotels. ( http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/lifestyle-hotel-trends-around-world  )

Creating an Outward Atmosphere of relaxed chic and Inward Culture of employee

engagement

More and more hotels are feeling the pressure of matching up their ‘software’ with the

uber chic ‘hardware’ that modern architecture and design facilities command. A

service industry like the hospitality industry stands on the pillar of the ‘humanexperience’ gleaned from ‘human interface’. Lifestyle hotels have upped their service

standards and employee training to get into the heart of the guests so that it

compliments the delectable cuisine and contemporary design to make for a complete

heightened ‘cool’ experience.

How Renaissance Harborview has changed the Culture

• Introduction of the changed culture concept

The hotel invited all its associates to an R-way cocktail reception cum celebration party in its grand ballroom where managers enacted a football themed skit to imbibe

team spirit. This created a buzz and also served as a fun, interactive event.

• Employer Branding

At the cocktail event, 90-minute briefing session was held which associates learnt the

rationale behind the new brand position as well as features of the hotel's clientele and

 job requirements among other things. The day concluded with an exhibition where the

same 20 managers set up booths to further promote the R-way concepts and get the

associates' general understanding of the new concept.

• Recruitment

Recruitment of new candidates will assess attitude alongside technical competence

and those who pass an online assessment will be invited to a behavioral interview

session to gauge if they ‘fit in’ with the culture. A two-day orientation explains to new

 joiners the hotel's cultural attributes and impacts essential knowledge. Another two-

day session is arranged a month later to measure the level of cultural alignment.

• R-Ways service card for constant reinforcement of the culture

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Renaissance employees carry with them a pocket-sized R-way card as a reminder.

This is reinforced on a daily basis via daily morning briefings and 15-minute training

sessions. The hotel's HR team also runs a daily broadsheet to inform associates of 

major news items such as VIP guest arrivals.

• Culture changes in greetings/cuisine/technology

Local and diverse cultural nuances are regarded, so greetings are now made by front

office staff in Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, and English. The hotel's buffet

 breakfast now also includes local delicacies such as egg tarts and fish balls. A

dedicated concierge called the ‘navigator’ has been established to help guests with

choice of local activities and places of interest.

Recommendations

Creating a culture for a hotel is one of utmost importance. The primary reason for this

is that it not only adds to the branding of the hotel, it is the quintessential element of a

‘human driven’ service industry.

 It has become increasingly popular to differentiate between strong and weak cultures. A strong culture is characterized by the organization’s core values being both

intensely held and widely shared. The more members who accept the core values and the greater their commitment to those values, the stronger the culture is. One specific

result of a strong culture should be low employee turnover. It demonstrates high

agreement among members about what the organization stands for.(Robbins,(1997), 4th Edition, Prentice Hall)

The Human Resources leaders at Renassaince Harborview Hotel have a hugely

daunting task of recreating the culture of an established hotel.

Some recommendations to create a strong culture are – 

• Review organizational structure: changing the physical structure of the hotel to

align it with the desired organizational culture may be necessary.

• Redesign approach to rewards and recognition: Motivation should be the

driving force and there should be a platform to encourage the behaviors vital

to the desired organizational culture

• Practice effective communication at all times and all levels: keeping all

employees informed about the organizational culture change process andexpectations ensures commitment and success..

• Create value and belief statements by way of employee focus groups, by

department, to put the mission, vision, and values into words that state their 

impact on each employee's job

Conclusion

As the hotel's brand campaign blows up into action, full-on, there are reasons to be

optimistic about a range of HR issues. Staff has been aligned, their buy-in received

and culture concept communicated through continuous training and development.

Recruitment strategies have been streamlined post a well thought out Employer 

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 branding

Moreover the brand image has escalated to another level and guests can expect a

consistent level of service from the hotel. Human Resource initiatives have been well

structured on an ongoing basis.

REFERENCES

• Paul Hersey, Ken Blanchard, D.E. Johnson (2001), 8 th Edition, Management of 

Organizational Behaviour, Pearson Prentice Hall.

• http://news.marriott.com/renaissance-hotels.html

• Michael Drafke, (2009), 10th Edition, The Human Side of Organizations,

Pearson Prentice Hall.

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• P. Christopher Earley, Soon Ang, Joo-Seng Tan(2006), 1st Edition, Developing

Cultural Intelligence at Work, Stanford University Press.

• Stephen P Robbins,(1997), 4th Edition, Essentials of Organizational Behavior,

Prentice Hall.

• http://www.careertimes.com.hk/english/article/show_article.asp?

category_id=1019&article_id=13875&title=identity-

exploration&listby=date&listby_id=

• Selling up/Managing Down from Paul Hersey, Situational Selling (Escondido,

CA: Centre for Leadership studies, 1985)

• The Marriott Culture -

http://www.marriott.com/corporateinfo/culture/default.mi

• www.wikipedia.com

• Lifestyle Hotel Trends http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/lifestyle-hotel-

trends-around-world