Discussion Question & Answer Question 1 What systems should Brian implement in order to start changing the human

capital practice in the Beachside Hotel? Answer Based on the case study (as attached), it is clearly to see that the Beachside Hotel need a serious culture changing in the level of their management. Brian who at the first place sees the incompetency of human resource management practices by Mary could not do anything and obstructed to get involved in any human resource functions that can be used to build a stronger service culture because he is also lack of knowledge in human resources management. Mary, the existing HR practitioner, was put into place because she could not work with customers, yet she is now in charge of the internal customers in the organization, the employees. Brian involvement in building a stronger culture is needed and he needs to cooperate or assist Mary to ensure that she put a focus on people and creating a positive atmosphere in the organization. Investments need to be made in training and development of the people currently employed at Beachside Hotel and also in the new people to build a committed workforce. Brian needs to implement basic system on which human resource works. He needs to focus on four function of human resource namely:a. Selection By having an analysis of the job (i.e. analytic study of the task to be performed) written into job description so that the candidates know what physical and mental, qualities, attitudes and characteristics applicant must possess. Appraisal Beachside Hotel needs constantly to take stock of its workforce and to assess its performance in existing job for three reasons: i. To improve organizational performance via improving the performance of individual contributor; ii. To identify potential (i.e. recognize existing talent and to use that to fill vacancies higher in organization or to transfer into jobs where better use can be made of their abilities or developing skills); and iii. To provide an equitable method of linking payment to performance where there are no numerical criteria.

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Rewards A short as well as long term achievement should be recognize in order to retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work by offering the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards as a continuous exercise. Education, Training & Development In general, education is mind preparation and is carried out remote from the actual work area, training is the systematic development of the attitude, knowledge, skill pattern required by a person to perform a given task or job adequately and development is the growth of the individual in terms of ability, understanding and awareness.

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Question 2 What could Brian learn from Joe in terms of the human capital aspects of running a hotel? Answer In order to run Beachside Hotel successfully in term of human capital, Brian should make an instant move by learning and grab as much knowledge about the human capital in his own hotel at the first place and getting himself immersed in the people of the company. Having Joe as a friend benefits to Brian although they are rival in the same business but at least some opportunity of knowledge can be grabbed from their relations. By doing an observation to Joes premises (Sunrise Hotel), some of the human resource practices that are being used can be apply to his own hotel. Joe gets involved in all of the hiring at the Sunrise Hotel as well as the training there. Brian should implement more of a focus in the top management of Beachside Hotel in order to emulate Joes focus on developing a culture of service and in taking pride in the people that work for him. Brian should start from ground level-followed by corporate and learn the importance of screening employees for front desk operation, and also to work on model starting from orientation followed by training and development leading to successful running of the organization.

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Question 3 How could training and development programs be implemented in the Beachside Hotel in order to help with turnover and occupancy rates at the hotel? Answer To focus on hiring the correct people for the various jobs at the Beachside Hotel and work with each person to determine what it would take to get them to be satisfied in their jobs is the crucial task should be done at the first place. To be successful in jobs, training and development is needed because it will not only give people the skills that they acquire to success in their jobs, but also as a tool to develop people in other facets of their life, i.e. time management skills, money management skills, and even tuition reimbursement or college classes. By having these development classes, workers will feel a sense of connection with their jobs and would help them to be satisfied in their overall lives. Employees who satisfied with their job are tending to stay at a place of employment and willing to satisfy their customer expectations. The top management involvement in training and development of their employees, help the employees commit their future growth and will make them feel that their employer believe in their capabilities. In this case, training and development will reduce the gap between existing performance ability and desired performance, which can be achieved through the following: i. To give new employee the basic knowledge and adequate skills they need for an intelligent performance of defined task; ii. To assist employees to function more effectively and efficiently in their present position by exposing them to latest concepts, information and techniques and developing the skills they need in their future roles; and iii. To broaden the mind of manager by providing them with opportunities for an interchange of experiences within and outside with a view to correct narrow outlook.

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Question 4 How could a return on investment perspective help or hurt the Beachside Hotel in trying to compete with the Sunrise Hotel? Answer To compete with the existing rival, Sunrise Hotel, Brians need to restructuring the Beachside Hotel where this for sure will acquire some initial investment in order to get the human capital practices to a point where there are some significant improvements. The improvement is expected to drive the quality of service of employees to the best level and thus drive customer satisfactions. There needs to be a return on investment focus for the hotel as they try to change the culture. Currently, there is no focus given on investment in human capital at all and the impact is the low customer satisfaction scores, high employee turnover, and a lack of repeat guests. This hotel needs to encourage a focus on the human capital areas as well as focusing on the return on investment in this area. It needs to be noted that the return on investment may take a period of time to show a positive return, but hopefully the effort will be worth it.

Question 5 What other human resource initiatives could be undertaken by either the Sunrise Hotel or Beachside Hotel in order to help with the overall performance of their respective organization? Answer Other human resource initiatives that could be undertaken by either or both company include: Regular and thorough performance reviews, 360 degree feedback programs, round table discussions with employees to focus on their needs, incentive programs to reward employees for positive performance toward the objectives of the organization, offer reward programs for guests in order to boost the level of repeat guests to the hotels, more open communication regarding progress toward the goals of the organizations in order to keep employees in the loop regarding performance, top management needs to focus on the service profit chain regarding the internal and external guest satisfaction

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