IDENTIFICATION OF HR NEEDS

& CONCERNS OF EMPLOYEES

OF TWO DIFFERENT STRATA
IN A SECTOR
Live Project

SUBMITTED BY
Piyali Nandi
Somdutta Chatterjee
Sandeep Moitra
Sharmistha Bose
Sukriti Srivastava

Indismart Leadership Center EN-34, Salt Lake Electronics Complex Sector-V,

Salt Lake City Kolkata – 700091 INDIA
 CONTENT

TOPICS PAGE NO

1. Overview of Hospitality Industry in India ………………........3

2. Growth of the Industry ………………………………………. 4
3. Major Players ………………………………………………… 5
4. Role of HR in the Sector ………………………………………5 – 6
5. Organizational Structure ……………………………………. 7
6. HR Needs And Concerns in Park …………………………… 8 – 11
7. HR Needs And Concerns in Taj …………………………….12 – 14
8. Level of Satisfaction in Taj ………………………………… 15 – 18
9. Level of Satisfaction in Park ……………………………….. 19 – 22
10. Photographs ………………………………………………... 23 – 24
11. HR Influence in the Industry ………………………………. 25 – 28
12. HR Policies …………………………………………………... 29
13. Conclusion ……………………………………………………. 30
14. References …………………………………………………….. 31
15. Annexure 1 & 2 ……………………………………………….. 32 – 34

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 IDENTIFICATION OF HR NEEDS & CONCERNS OF
EMPLOYEES OF TWO DIFFERENT STRATA IN
HOSPITALITY SECTOR

A. OVERVIEW OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Today India is growing at a very fast rate. With the globalization which has happened, every
sector has shown a remarkable growth. Right form the Information Technology to banking
sector and now hospitality sector even. The Hospitality Sector has given a new trend to the
Indian Market. Hospitality segment, just like many other segments in India is booming at an
unprecedented pace. India faces a huge challenge of being "under roomed" while the
economy is growing rapidly. This provides for a huge opportunity for hospitality industry. A
lot of large real estate developers are also investing into this business to bridge the demand-
supply gap and leverage the opportunity.

The Hotel Industry comprises a major part of the Tourism industry. Historically viewed as an
industry providing a luxury service valuable to the economy only as a foreign exchange
earner, the industry today contributes directly to employment (directly employing around
0.15 million people), and indirectly facilitates tourism and commerce. Prior to the 1980s, the
Indian hotel industry was a slow-growing industry, consisting primarily of relatively static,
single-hotel companies. However, the Asiad, held in New Delhi in 1982, and the subsequent
partial liberalization of the Indian economy generated tourism interest in India, with
significant benefits accruing to the hotel and tourism sector, in terms of improved demand
patterns. Growth in demand for hotels was particularly high during the early 1990s following
the initiatives taken to liberalize the Indian economy in FY1991, as per the recommendations
of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The euphoria of the early 1990s prompted major
chains, new entrants and international chains to chalk out ambitious capacity additions,
especially in the metropolitan cities. However, most of these efforts were directed towards the
business travellers and foreign clientele. In recent years, the hotels sector has grown at a
faster rate than GDP. As a result, the share of hotels & restaurants in GDP at current prices
has increased from 1.2per cent in FY2000 to 1.5per cent in FY2005. In constant (1999-2000)
prices, the GDP from hotels and restaurants has increased from Rs. 222.65 billion in FY2000
to Rs. 335.49 billion in FY2005. As a result, the share of hotels and restaurants in total GDP
at constant prices has increased from 1.24per cent in FY2000 to 1.40per cent in FY2005.
3
B. GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY

The hotel industry in India is going through an interesting phase. The industry has a capacity
of 110,000 rooms. According to the tourism ministry, 4.4 million tourists visited India last
year and at the current rate, the demand will soar to 10 million by 2010 – to accommodate
350 million domestic travellers. The hotels of India have a shortage of 150,000 rooms
fuelling hotel room rates across India. With tremendous pull of opportunity, India has become
a destination for hotel chains looking for growth.

Due to such a huge potential available in this segment, several global hotel chains like the
Hilton, Accor, Marriott International, Berggruen Hotels, Cabana Hotels, Premier Travel Inn
(PTI), Inter Continental Hotels group and Hampshire among others have all announced major
investment plans for the country. The Government's move to declare hotel and tourism
industry as a high priority sector with a provision for 100 per cent foreign direct investment
(FDI) has also provided a further impetus in attracting investments in to this industry.

It is estimated that the hospitality sector is likely to see US$ 11.41 billion rise in the next two
years, with around 40 international hotel brands making their presence known in the country
by 2011. Simultaneously, international hotel asset management companies are also likely to
enter India. Already, US-based HVS International has firmed up plans to enter India, and
industry players believe others like Ashford Hospitality Trust and IFA Hotels & Resorts
among others are likely to follow suit.

One of the major reasons for the increase in demand for hotel rooms in the country is the
boom in the overall economy and high growth in sectors like information technology,
telecom, retail and real estate. Rising stock market and new business opportunities are also
attracting hordes of foreign investors and international corporate travellers to look for
business opportunities in the country.

Also India has been ranked as the fourth most preferred travel destination and with Lonely
Planet selecting the country among the top five destinations from 167 countries; India has
finally made its mark on the world travel map. Thus, the increase in the need for
accommodation has hugely increased the demands for hotels which in turn has boosted the
growth of the hospitality sector in India especially that of the hotel industry.

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Prabhash Bhatnagar is Manager of Sales & Marketing, maker of hotel management system
and Resort management software handles the key aspects of the running of client’s business,
including bookings & reservations, Housekeeping, Spa, POS and generating reports.

C. MAJOR PLAYERS IN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Public Sector Players: Private Sector Players:

ITDC hotels ITC Hotels

Hotel Corporation of India The Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces

Oberoi Hotels(East India Hotels)

Hotel Leela Venture

Asian Hotels Ltd.

Radisson hotels & Resorts

D. ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE IN HOSPITALITY SECTOR

In hotel industry the job of HR manager can be compare with the job of conductor, whose job
is to instruct and direct all of the various musicians so that they can perform well together.
But before a conductor can direct a beautiful performance, all of the individual musicians
must be able to play their instruments well. What kind of performance could one can expect if
the violinists did not know how to play their instruments or the flutists could not read music?

So it is in the hospitality industry, before a manager can direct and shape employee’s
individual contributions into an efficient whole, he or she must first turn employees into
competent workers who know how to do their jobs. Employees are the musicians of the
orchestra that the members of the audience-the-guests-have come to watch performance. If
employees are not skilled at their jobs, then the performance they give will get bad reviews.
Just as an orchestra can have a fine musical score from a great composer and still perform
poorly because of incompetent musicians, so a hotel can have a finest standard recipes,
service procedures and quality standards and still have dissatisfied guests because of poor
employee performance.

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That is why properly managing human resources is so important. No other industry provides
so much contact between employees and customers and so many opportunities to either
reinforce a positive experience or create a negative one.

As in the five-star hotel and five-star deluxe hotel there are around lots of employee are
involved in different jobs in different fields there is dire need to look and control on them. No
doubt different department’s heads are present to look their department employee, but HRD is
a place, which supervise and effectively communicate with these departments head and
communicate with the top management. Thus there function is very large and diverse as
compared with respect to different department’s heads.

E. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT

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 General Manager

Personnel Director

Personnel Manager

Personnel Officer

Personnel Research &

Development Officer

Personnel
Department
Training
Department

Operative Training
Supervisory Training
Management Training
Maintaining Recruitment Training Welfare Training Instruction
Payroll Training Aids &
Equipments

HR NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF BOTH LOWER AND

HIGHER LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN THE PARK KOLKATA

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INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE PARK KOLKATA – Park Kolkata was given the
approval of Five Star Hotel by the Tourism, Government of India who visited The Park on
July 10, 1999. It was later upgraded from “Five Star” to “Five Star Deluxe”. The team
inspected the hotel's décor, standards of service, rooms, systems and overall arrangements. In
the afternoon came the verdict, not entirely unexpected: "Approved." The hotel staff went
into a mood of great celebration.

The approval gave the hotel a greater recognition and status, enabled it to attract higher-class
clientele and move closer to the classy image of its competitors, Taj Bengal and Oberoi. The
recategorization was another feather in the cap for the hotel, coming after its selection in May
1998 as a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World1. The top management of the
hotel sought such recognition to strengthen the direction of its efforts to reposition the hotel
as a "boutique hotel"2 and change its image from a "comfortable and affordable hotel mainly
for Public Sector executives and budget travellers" to "a classy and trendy hotel" conveying
an image of youth, vitality and a place where "things happen". The management had
sarticulated for the hotel a mission that highlighted premium status, global standards and
service excellence as its key elements. It had also taken a number of steps to translate its
“boutique” concept into practice.

HR DEPARTMENT OF THE PARK KOLKATA AND THEIR

REPOSITIONING STRATEGY
The new initiatives launched by the Hotel needed to be supported by matching initiatives in
the HR Department. Though the management had developed a mission statement and gave it
wide publicity, the difficulty was in carrying the mission to people at all levels. According to
Mr. Siraj Mukherjee, Manager, Training: “The problem is how to make people understand
this statement. I don't think it is really understood by many people”8. Concurred Ms. Malaya
Das, Head, Department of HRD: “How we can make people understand our mission and
vision down the line continues to be a major problem. By and large everybody understands
differentiation, but they have to still understand the true spirit of differentiation”. Ms. Mahua
Mukherjee, Manager, Training and HRD thought that translation of the ideas contained in the
new strategy and the mission statement involved all aspects of HR- recruitment, training

8
compensation and performance appraisal9. She explained the steps taken by the HR
department in this context.

While we have a large number of older people, we recognize the importance of having a
younger team. We have been recruiting people who are dynamic, having an urge to do new
things, are creative, are good learners and have also the ability to work hard. We give a lot of
weightage for creativity, innovativeness and initiative in our appraisals. We are laying great
emphasis on goal setting and direction at each level. We have allocated responsibilities and
targets for each department. Many of the departments are now run as independent profit
centres. For example, the restaurants, the Spa (the health centre) and Some Place Else are
profit centres. Others are given performance targets.

Increasingly we are linking our promotions and compensations to the results achieved. This is
creating a lot of stress and discomfort, particularly to the older group, who are not used to
such appraisals, but we have to take these measures. Systematic training has also helped us a
lot. The training, performance appraisal and goal setting are all linked. During appraisal
sessions, people are frankly told about their positive and negative points, so that they can take
corrective action themselves.

Mr. Rahul Guha from the HR Department had this to say to the case writers: “The working
conditions in a hotel are not among the best. We have long working hours and the pay in the
industry is generally low. Hence we have to find ways to retain staff. We have introduced a
number of welfare measures. We have introduced bunkers for employees to take rest in
between shifts if they cannot go home. We give good birthday gifts. We give a month's pay as
a gift when the employees get married. We have introduced scholarships for employees'
wards, Mediclaim insurance for all permanent employees and reserved seats for the wards of
employees in the Apeejay School which is a good school. We hope to retain more employees
and keep their morale high through these measures .Mr. Malaya Das explained the efforts
made to translate the mission into actual practice at all levels.”

HR NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF THE TOP MANAGEMENT

During our survey we interviewed some of The Top Management and we found that the
higher level employees are more concerned with the strategic decisions of the hotel. Their HR

9
Needs and Concerns are more focused on the overall development of the business or the firm
as they feel that if the firms grows overall then only the employees of that firm would be
happy as if there is development in the firm then this would ultimately lead to the
development of the employees also. Some of the needs which were pointed by the top
management in case of The park were –

1. DIFFERENTIATING THE HOTEL FROM ITS COMPETITORS – In the Park

Hotel we found that all the top management are focusing on now to make the hotel
different from its competitors. And hence forth they decided that they will be coming
up with a new concept of boutique hotel. As this concept is very new therefore The
Park will be having an edge from its competitors. Moreover the concept of Boutique
Hotel will also be attracting many of the guest.

2. CONCEPT OF BOUTIQUE HOTEL IS CLEAR TO THEIR EMPLOYEES OR

NOT – Once the top management have decided about the concept then there concern
lies on the fact that if at all this concept will be understood by their employees or not.
This is very important for the company as if the concept cannot be understood by the
employees implementing it will be a problem.

3. REDUCING THE ATTRITION RATE – This is a major concern for all the
hospitality industry. The top management is always worried for reducing the attrition
rate. During the survey it was found that the attrition rate in The Park also is very high
and therefore the entire management is taking great concern and initiatives to reduce
the attrition rate.

4. PROVIDING PROPER TRAINING TO THE EMPLOYEES – The training and

development department of the hotel is always providing the better training to the
employees to insure that they give their of the service which gives an edge to their
competitors.

5. FOCUSING ON THE INCOMPLETED TASKS – During our survey we could

also find that the top management are also concerned on the their projects or tasks which
were incomplete. Apart from taking care of their employees and looking for their needs
the top management at the same time looking at the areas which still needs to be
completed.

10
HR NEEDS AND CONCERN OF THE LOWER LEVEL EMPLOYEES

As we got the opportunity of interacting with some of the employees who worked at the post
of supervisory level it was found that were as the top management are concerned with the
growth of the firm, these employees are more concerned with their own growth and
development. Some of the needs and concerns of these level employees are –

1. CAREER GRWOTH IN THE PARK KOLKATA - While asking the employees of

the hotel they said that they are more concerned about their carrier growth. They look
for the opportunities which are coming in the firm so that they can build up their
carrier and move ahead.

2. ABOUT THE VARIOUS WELFARE SCHEMES – Most of the employees are

more focused on the various schemes which are coming up. As the pay in the hotel
industry is not very good and specially for the lower level employees and therefore
they always look up if something new is coming up or not.

3. ABOUT THE SHIFT TIMING – One of the major concern which was found
among all the employees were that they were unhappy with the shift timing which was
followed there. According to them the timings which was followed often was in such
a manner that a particular employee used to get easy shifts whereas the others used to
suffer because they had to do double shifts.

HR NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF BOTH LOWER AND

HIGHER LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN TAJ BENGAL

INTRODUCTION ABOUT TAJ BENGAL -One of the most significant cities in the world
in terms of culture, history as well as political and economic importance and influence,
Calcutta or Kolkata as she is known today is definitely one of the primary places of tourist
interest in India. Besides these, Calcutta is also known for its warmth and hospitality that has

11
made the city a haven for people from all across the world. Located in one of the most elite
areas of the city at Alipore, the Taj Bengal echoes this concept of hospitality that signifies
Calcutta. The Company was incorporated in 1902 and it opened its first hotel, The Taj Mahal
Palace, Mumbai, in 1903. The Company then undertook major expansion of The Taj Mahal
Palace, Mumbai by constructing an adjacent tower block and increasing the number of rooms
from 225 to 565 rooms. With the completion of its initial public offering in the early 1970s,
the Company began a long term programme of geographic expansion and development of
new tourist destinations in India which led to its emergence as a leading hotel chain in India.
From the 1970s to the present day, the Taj Group has played an important role in launching
several of India's key tourist destinations, working in close association with the Indian
Government. The Taj Group has a philosophy of service excellence which entails providing
consistently high levels of personalized service and innovative means of improving service
quality.

HR PRACRICES IN TAJ BENGAL

When we were asking the higher level employees about the HR practices then it was found
that the management wanted the new recruits to pursue long term carrier with the
organization. All the new employees were placed in two years intensive training program,
which helped them in getting familiarized with the business ethos of the group, the
management practices of the organization, and the working of the cross functional
departments.

According to the group it was believed that talent management was utmost important to
develop sustainable competitive advantage. The group aimed at making the HR function as a
critical business partner rather than just a mere support function. Further it was also found
that Taj has the concept of Taj People Philosophy which covered all the people practices of
the group. Not only this there Taj group has introduces strong performance management
system known as the Balanced Scored Card which links the individual performance with that
of the group’s overall strategy. This helps them in enhancing both the individual performance
as well as the organization’s performance. Apart form focusing on all these needs and
concerns of the employees there are other needs and concerns which are been focused by the
top management of the Taj hotel.

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HR NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF THE TOP MANAGEMENT OF TAJ
BENGAL

1. LOOKING FOR THE NEW WAYS OF MOTIVATING THE EMPLOYEES-

Taj cares a lot for their employees and therefore to motivate them more they have
adopted the concept of STARS which will be given to the employees who excel in
their work throughout the year. The employee gaining the maximum points will be
giving the stars accordingly. The Gold for the top performer, silver for 2nd best
performer and 3rd will be awarded with platinum.

2. LOOKING FOR ANY EXTENSIONS IF POSSIBLE – As the competition is

increasing, the top management is also concerned to look for extensions of the hotel if
possible. This will help them to have edge over others.

3. FOCUSING AFTER THE INCOMPLETE PROJECTS – The top management is

also concerned to look after those areas where the project are still to be completed.
They feel if these projects are completed then this will help the employees also.

HR NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF THE LOWER LEVEL EMPLOYEES

IN TAJ BENGAL

1. CONCERNED ABOUT THE GROWTH IN THE ORGANIZATION – Unlike

the employees of The Park Hotel, the lower level employees of Taj Hotel are more
concerned about their growth and success in the organization. Their focus area is how
much growth they will get in the organization. They are much more concerned about
their own growth and development rather than focusing on the growth of the
organization.

2. ABOUT THE PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES – The lower level employees are also
concerned about the promotional schemes which are offered by the organization.
While asking to the employees they said that they want to know what the promotional
schemes are. The reason behind this is that this gives them motivation to work.

13
 3. ABOUT ANY RECENT ACTIVITIES COMING UP – They are also interested in
knowing if there are any recent activities which will take place where they can prove
themselves. They always wait for any new opportunities which will take place so that
they can prove themselves well.

LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYEES IN TAJ BENGAL

IN CASE OF EXECUTIVES

Fig 1 – To know the rate of attrition.

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 No.Of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 0 0
Agree 0 0
Undecided 0 0
Disagree 3 100
Strongly
Disagree 0 0
Total 3 100

High Attrition Rate

100

80

60

40 Percentage

20

0
Strongly Agree Undecided Dis agree Strongly
Agree Dis agree

Inference – It shows that 100% of the executives are disagreeing to the fact that the attrition
rate is high. This means that the facilities and the atmosphere given to the employees are
good enough to hold them back and henceforth the executives are happy and satisfied.

Fig – To know the satisfaction of training and development

No. of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 1 33.33333333
Agree 1 33.33333333
Undecided 1 33.33333333
Disagree 0 0
Strongly
Disagree 0 0
Total 3 100

15
 Satisfaction with Training and Development

35
30
25
20
15 Percentage
10
5
0
Strongly Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree

Inference – The above graph shows that the all three level of executives are completely
satisfied with the training and development provided in the organization and this is also
proving the kind of efficiency the employees are having at their work. This is also one of the
motivating and satisfying factors for the executives.

IN CASE OF LOWER LEVEL EMPLOYEES

Fig – To know communication system among the employees of different level

No. Of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 3 60
Agree 2 40
Undecided 0 0
Disagree 0 16 0
Strongly
Disagree 0 0
Total 5 100
 Communication System between employees of different level

60
50
40
30
Percentage
20
10
0
Strongly Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree

Inference –In the above graph it is shown that the lower level of employees are completely
satisfied with the communication system among the various levels. This is the reason that
these employees feel motivated with the working culture of the organization.

Fig 2 - To know the Total Reward Framework

No. Of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 0 0
Agree 5 100
Undecided 0 0
Disagree 0 0
Strongly
Disagree 0 0
Total 5 100

17
 Total reward system

100
80
60
40 Percentage
20
0
Strongly Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
Inference – Total Reward Framework is also very good in Taj Bengal as it is shown in the
graph above. This keeps the employee motivated and satisfied as well as given them the
enthusiasm of working in the organization.

LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYEES IN PARK KOLKATA

IN CASE OF EXECUITVES

Fig 1 – To know the rate of attrition

No. Of
Scales Respondents Percentages
Strongly Agree 0 0
Agree 3 100
18
 Undecided 0 0
Disagree 0 0
Strongly Disagree 0 0
Total 3 100

High Attrition Rate

100
80
60
Value
40 Percentages
20
0
Strongly Undecided Strongly
Agree Disagree

Inference – In the above graph it is showing that the attrition rate is high in park. This is the
area where the higher level of employees need to improve themselves, therefore they are
working on it by means of improving the facilities they are providing to the employees.

Fig 2 – To know the satisfaction level with training and development

No. of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 0 0
Agree 3 100
Undecided 0 0
Disagree 0 0
Strongly Disagree 0 0
Total 3 100

19
 Satisfaction with Training & Development

100
80
60
Value
40 Percentage
20
0
Strongly Undecided Strongly
Agree Disagree

Inference – The training and development program conducted at the Park Kolkata is good and
which is been proved form the graph above. This shows that this is one of the factors which is
keeping the executives satisfied and happy as this is the reason why the service of the
employees are up to the mark in the organization.

IN CASE OF LOWER LEVEL EMPLOYEES

Fig 1 - To know communication system among the employees of different level.

No. of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 0 0

Agree 0 0
Undecided 3 60
Disagree 2 40
Strongly Disagree 0 0
20
 Total 5 100

Communication system between the different

level of employees

Strongly Agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Inference – The communication system in The Park is not up to the mark but still employees
feel that they can convey their message to the top management and this is what keeps them
happy and satisfied.

Fig 2 – To know the Total Reward Framework

No. of
Scales Respondents Percentage
Strongly Agree 0 0
Agree 4 80
Undecided 1 20
Disagree 0 0
Strongly Disagree 0 0

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 Total 5 100

Satisfaction With Total Reward Framework

100%
80%
60%
Value
40% Percentage
20%
0%
Strongly Undecided Strongly
Agree Disagree

Inference – The reward system of the hotel is quite satisfying. Hence this is one of the major
factors why the employees of this organization are well motivated and happy.

CERTAIN PHTOGRAPHS OF THE INDUSTRY

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EMPLOYEES OF TAJ

23
 HOW CAN HR INFLUENCE IN A POSITIVE WAY IN HOTEL
INDUSTRY?

The role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with the change in competitive market
environment and the realization that Human Resource Management must play a more
strategic role in the success of a hotel industry. Those hotel Industries that do not put their
emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as
their competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human
resources.
24
With the increase in competition, locally or globally, hospitality industry must become more
adaptable, resilient, agile, and customer-focused to succeed. And within this change in
environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become a strategic partner, an employee
sponsor or advocate, and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, HR
must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organization’s big
picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of today’s
HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals
will be coaches, counsellors, mentors, and succession planners to help motivate
organization’s members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for
values, ethics, beliefs, and spirituality within their organizations, especially in the
management of workplace diversity.

As in hospitality industry workforce diversity is one such area which needs to be taken proper
care of. As in the hospitality industry maximum employees with the different caste and
regional work therefore managing them becomes utmost important.

 WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, employees of

different age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation,
educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience,
religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience.

THE CHALLENGES OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

The future success of any hotels relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that
can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems
faced of workforce diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an
organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of
talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can
respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena
which must be one of the important organisational goals to be attained. More importantly, if
the organizational environment does not support diversity broadly, one risks losing talent to
competitors.

25
This is especially true for hospitality sector who work with employee who employ people of
different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. Thus, a HR manager needs to be
mindful and may employ a ‘Think Global, Act Local’ approach in most circumstances. With
a population of only four million people and the nation’s strive towards high technology and
knowledge-based economy; foreign talents are lured to share their expertise in these areas.
Thus, many local HR managers have to undergo cultural-based Human Resource
Management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are
highly qualified but culturally diverse. Furthermore, the HR professional must assure the
local professionals that these foreign talents are not a threat to their career advancement. In
many ways, the effectiveness of workplace diversity management is dependent on the skilful
balancing act of the HR manager.

ORGANIZING TALENTS STRATEGICALLY- Many companies are now realizing the

advantages of a diverse workplace. As more and more companies are going global in their
market expansions either physically or virtually (for example, E-commerce-related
companies), there is a necessity to employ diverse talents to understand the various niches of
the market. With the trend in place, a HR Manager must be able to organize the pool of
diverse talents strategically for the organization. He/She must consider how a diverse
workforce can enable the company to attain new markets and other organizational goals in
order to harness the full potential of workplace diversity.

An organization that sees the existence of a diverse workforce as an organizational asset

rather than a liability would indirectly help the organization to positively take in its stride
some of the less positive aspects of workforce diversity.

 MOTIVATIONAL APPROACHES

Motivation can be defined as the influence that makes us do things to achieve organizational
goals: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied (or met) so that we are motivated
to complete organizational tasks effectively. As these needs vary from person to person, an
organization must be able to utilize different motivational tools to encourage their employees
to put in the required effort and increase productivity for the company.

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). In our
changing workplace and competitive market environments, motivated employees and their
contributions are the necessary currency for an organization’s survival and success.
26
Motivational factors in an organizational context include working environment, job
characteristics, appropriate organizational reward system and so on.

The development of an appropriate organizational reward system is probably one of the

strongest motivational factors. This can influence both job satisfaction and employee
motivation. The reward system affects job satisfaction by making the employee more
comfortable and contented as a result of the rewards received. The reward system influences
motivation primarily through the perceived value of the rewards and their contingency on
performance and specially in hospitality sector where employees work almost more than 18
hours a day. To be effective, an organizational reward system should be based on sound
understanding of the motivation of people at work.

 GAIN-SHARING

Gain-sharing programs generally refer to incentive plans that involve employees in a common
effort to improve organizational performance, and are based on the concept that the resulting
incremental economic gains are shared among employees and the company.

In most cases, workers voluntarily participate in management to accept responsibility for

major reforms. This type of pay is based on factors directly under a worker’s control (i.e.,
productivity or costs). Gains are measured and distributions are made frequently through a
predetermined formula. Because this pay is only implemented when gains are achieved, gain-
sharing plans do not adversely affect company costs.

MANAGING GAIN-SHARING

HR plays a important role in managing gain sharing. Many hotel industry are implementing
this policy and hence a HR manager ensures that the people who will be participating in the
plan are influencing the performance measured by the gain-sharing formula in a significant
way by changes in their day-to-day behaviour. The main idea of the gain sharing is to
motivate members to increase productivity through their behavioural changes and working
attitudes.

An effective manager must ensure that the gain-sharing targets are challenging but legitimate
and attainable. In addition, the targets should be specific and challenging but reasonable and
justifiable given the historical performance, the business strategy and the competitive

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environment. If the gain-sharing participants perceive the target as an impossibility and are
not motivated at all, the whole program will be a disaster.

A manager must provide useful feedback as a guidance to the gain-sharing participants

concerning how they need to change their behaviour(s) to realize gain-sharing payouts The
feedback should be frequent, objective and clearly based on the members’ performance in
relation to the gain-sharing target.

A manager has an effective mechanism in place to allow gain-sharing participants to initiate

changes in work procedures and methods and/or requesting new or additional resources such
as new technology to improve performance and realize gains. Though a manager must have a
tight control of company’s resources, reasonable and justifiable requests for additional
resources and/or changes in work methods from gain-sharing participants should be
considered.

SOME OF THE HR POLICIES WHICH CAN BE IMPLEMENTED BY THE

HOTELS

1. People Management Strategy – This is one of the major area which needs to taken
care of by every hotel industry. From the project it is clear that Park is a hotel which is
having high attrition rate so there should be certain strategies to keep the employees
happy and satisfied. Park Hotel need to interact more with employees so that they can
understand what are the factors which are making the employees dissatisfied with the
organization and which areas do they need to improve so that they can manage the
people well.

2. Providing Growth Opportunities – Growth opportunities should be provided to the

employees so that they can develop themselves well. They must be given chances

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 where they can prove themselves and for this the hotels can go for keeping certain
internal tests in the organization where they can prove their abilities and can move
ahead at a faster span of time. This test should be open to all the lower level of
employees who want to appear for this.

3. Leadership and management strategy – This is one area where the HR needs to
take certain actions or should be following certain practices which can help in
building the leadership skills among the employees. The strategy of the management
should be such that it helps the employee to develop themselves and at the same time
can also have the feeling that the firm belongs to them and they belong to the firm can
be inculcated among the employees.

4. Learning And development – The hotels have to always provide continuous training
and development to the employees in order to provide better efficiency of the work.
The continuous training and development would also help in improving the service of
the employees and thereby having more loyal gests. The hotels must also keep the
opportunity of rewarding the employees if they keep improving. This would also
motivate the employees to work in the better manner as if they keeps improving with
every training program then the would be getting better reward than others.

CONCLUSION

From the whole project we have seen that in hotel industry the policies and functioning of
each hotel is little bit similar to other hotels. Good HR policy would be the policy, which not
only considers all HR functions with proper care, but also considers all the other factors like
culture of the hotel, types of customers it receives, the nature of the business and also the
place from where it operates. And the hotels, considering all the above factors to achieve the
organizational goal while framing its HR functions is said to have been following good
policy.

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And now when our country is trying to develop tourism for the development of our economy,
it has become mandatory for us to provide hotel-services up to international standards and
this is possible only when our hotels are in position to cope with this frustration level of
employees. They need to be given proper training and also the career opportunities for their
future. And first of all they should be aware of the facts of this industry before they join in, so
that after entering their frustration level would be low as they will be prepared for everything.
Thus, the responsibility of an HR manager is much higher in this industry.

REFERENCE

http://www.agcnetworks.com/industry/hospitality/hospital-industry-in-india.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/growth-of-the-hotel-industry-in-india.html

http://business.outlookindia.com/inner.aspx?articleid=2638&editionid=72&catg

http://www.expresshospitality.com/20100215/management05.shtml

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/papers/tourism/wp267.pdf.com

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/11069/business_and_finance/the_challenges_of
_human_resource_management.html.

www.scribd.com

www.theparkhotels.com

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www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/Taj%20Bengal,KOLKATA/default.htm.

QUESTIONNAIRE

A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN HOTEL PARK. & TAJ GROUP OF

HOTELS.

Dear respondent,
I am conducting a survey on the above mentioned topic. If you kindly spare some
time and fill it up. This survey is only for academic interest.

Thanking You,
Sukriti Srivastava,

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Sharmistha Bose.
Piyali Nandi
Sandeep Moitra
Somdutta Chatterjee.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,
KOLKATA.

Name (Optional):

Please tick ( ) where it is appropriate.

Gender: Male Female

Age: Below 30 years 30-40 years

40-50 years Above 50 years

Marital Status: Single Married

Number of dependents: Less than 3 3-5 More than 5

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Experience of working: Less than 5 yrs 5-15 yrs 15-25 yrs
More than 25 yrs
Income (Monthly): 29000-48000 49000-68000 69000 & above

QUESTIONS TO LOWER LEVELS:

1. I am mentally or physically exhausted at the end of the day at work.

2. I have lost sight of my career goals & aspirations.

3. I have pleasant attitude towards my job, boss & employer.

4. I am satisfied with the welfare factors .

5. My salary is satisfying.

EXECUTIVE LEVEL:

1. I feel that my working hours are convenient

2. I am satisfied with my working conditions.

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3. I am satisfied with my training opportunities

4. My salary is satisfying.

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