Assessment Details – Case Study
Both assessments on this module are concerned with a case study around HRM/Talent management. The details of the case study are set out below, and Assessment 1 will investigate academic rationale and theory, and Assessment 2 will adopt a practical solutions approach to the (common) issues that have arisen in this hospitality environment case study.
Case Study – Brief
The hospitality company – HRM/talent management issues:
The BC Group owns four hotels in the poshest parts of Yorkshire (Harrogate, Ilkley, Scarborough and York), catering for relatively wealthy visitors based on 4-star-plus hotel ratings. The Group expanded in the early 2010s, with a mixture of avant-garde interior designs and a less formal approach to customer relations that found great favour with its mostly international audience coming to visit the attractions of what Yorkshire had to offer. Its fairly rapid expansion, though, has come with some HRM/talent management issues, which you have now been asked to report to the CEO of the Group. At present, there is no HR team in the BC Group, as most HR issues are devolved to managers. One part-time person looks after issues such as payroll, employment contracts, etc, for the whole Group.
You have asked around and used websites, such as Glassdoor.co.uk, to form some initial opinions before meeting the hotel’s senior management. You understand there are some core issue areas to tackle:
Whilst there has been good growth in the past decade, it appears there is little staff recognition, which appears to impact the overall productivity of staff. Overall morale is low, with little involvement in decision making, and employees have little involvement in day-to-day decisions.
There appears to be a lack of individual development, health and safety training, and employees do not get regular formal feedback or appraisals. For those new to the hotels, there is a lack of induction training.
There are constant issues around wages being paid on time and continuing issues around the amount of overtime being paid. There appear to be zero incentives or structured feedback and suggestion mechanisms.
In reception, staff are sometimes asked, due to staff shortages, to work non-stop 12-14 hours, where initial customer contact is crucial and recording the correct guest details and payment methods is imperative. Despite this, front office clerks are expected to stay focused throughout.
There appear to be too few managers, and those at the hotel are stretched with large teams and broad responsibilities. Managers in the hotels are continually overworked and rushed. Mistakes appear commonplace. There appears to be no senior managers to act as a buffer between the CEOS and staff.
There have been reports of interns and temporary staff being bullied and told to work extra hours without pay or be sacked. This especially happens in the kitchens (which do produce wonderful food).
Employees rarely have an outlet to take issues forward with HR or problems about salaries, etc, and are often told to just “get on with the job”.
Any employee selection and recruitment programmes appear haphazard and random, with inconsistent selection processes, imagery and corporate messages.
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In summary, the problem areas being faced are (and you must cover just ONE of these in your essay and one of these in your presentation (linking it back to some of the issues identified above)):
There is a “macho” culture with little regard for employees’ work/life balance. There is evidence of bullying for those new to the organisation and working only in a temporary capacity.
Underperformance of permanent and new employees who feel overworked and unappreciated. Morale appears low, and this applies to all levels.
Difficulties recruiting hospitality senior managers with the required skills and experience. Appropriate front-of-house staff, such as those on reception, are understaffed and overworked.
Assessment 2 – Presentation (10-minute pre-recorded and script provided) – 70% of module marks
Students will submit up to a 10-minute pre-recorded presentation with a supporting written script of the voice-over for the presentation.
The second assessment involves using HR theory, best practice and up-to-date research to recommend how you would resolve a specific issue faced by a fictional hospitality company. You are also required to critically evaluate the application of HR theory to the hospitality industry and how the recommended approach might help address issues of equality and diversity. You are given some multifaceted information which echoes the often-complex nature of HR difficulties, and you are required to understand the underlying issues, provide academic definitions and critiques of these, and suggest solutions for a fictitious company.
Your recorded presentation will be presented individually and can last up to 10 minutes. Any content over the stated time limit will not be marked. Your presentation is to be created using PowerPoint and should be submitted through Turnitin by the confirmed deadline date. IMPORTANT: The script you have used for your voice-over must be provided, in full, either at the bottom of each slide or at the end of the presentation. Further guidance will be provided in the seminars.
In summary, the problem areas being faced are (and you must cover just ONE of these in your presentation, linking it back to two of the issues identified above):
There is a “macho” culture with little regard for employees’ work/life balance. There is evidence of bullying for those new to the organisation and working only in a temporary capacity.
Underperformance of permanent and new employees who feel overworked and unappreciated. Morale appears low, and this applies to all levels.
Difficulties recruiting hospitality senior managers with the required skills and experience. Appropriate front-of-house staff, such as those on reception, are understaffed and overworked.
Whichever one problem areas you choose (A, B or C), you must address the important HRM topic of diversity and equality in the workplace at the BC Group. You must address this either at the end or during your presentation, with the one problem area and the appropriate issues being faced.
You have been asked to pre-record a 10-minute presentation on one of the problem areas listed A-C above, and link it to some of the issues 1-8 that you solve and what approaches you would suggest for the senior managers to make. Very good presentations will make the linkages between some of the 1-8 issues above and one of the problem areas (A, B or C) you pick. You are NOT expected to cover all the issue areas. You should primarily concentrate on solving the issues connected with your one problem area.
If you make recommendation(s), you should outline what is to be done, how it is implemented, for whom, and what the benefits are to the BC Group. You have not been told about a budget for any changes, but any suggested HR changes should be proportionate with the size of the BC Group, i.e. four medium-sized hotels.
In any specific areas you cover in the presentation, you should introduce academic referencing in-text on the slides and complete with a surname reference list at the end. You should use a minimum of x15 academic book and journal references (not including many websites).
Guidance for the content of your presentation (this will greatly assist your presentation structure):
On your first slide/cover slide, you MUST include: Name, student identification number, a clear picture of yourself, name of the module and assessment.
You should cover off human resource management (HRM), and strategic human resource management (SHRM). Which would you recommend for the BC Group and why?
Explain what you think is the predominant leadership and management style being demonstrated and its impact. What leadership/management style should the company adopt? Give reasons. How would you go about changing this?
Where possible, outline any relevant HRM theory about one of the problem areas A-C.
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(ADVICE: THIS MUST NOT BE LINKED TO, OR EXAMPLE, MASLOW OR HERZBERG, BUT TO CONCEPTS RELATING TO THAT PARTICULAR ISSUE I.E., CULTURE) Link one of these problem areas with some of the issues you have identified in the list, so the company can see how you are recommending solutions to the issues it has.
Critically evaluate the application of your chosen HRM theory to the study hospitality context.
Critically evaluate the usefulness of this theory in resolving the issue for the BC Group.
Ensure you cover off issues of equality and diversity, and explain why adopting these types of policies would assist a company such as BC Group in the hospitality industry.
Outline your course of action and your recommendations that tackle one of the BC Group problem areas and solve some of the stated issues.
You should include your reference (minimum x15) citation list at the end of your presentation. You must use mostly academic sources, correctly referenced using Leeds Beckett Harvard (see Quote unquote) referencing, to underpin your presentation. You may wish to include an Appendix section after the references and before your script.
FINALLY – you must include the script of what you have said (what you have said during the whole presentation) either under each slide (in the notes section), or at the very end of your presentation. Failure to provide this will loss you marks – see feedback and marking grid
