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MAKING A TOUGH
PERSONNEL DECISION AT
NOVA WATERFRONT HOTEL

PGP09200 Manisha Toppo

PGP09230 Sangeeta Bori
Introduction of Nova Waterfront Hotel

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Nova Waterfront Hotel in downtown Baltimore had 733 rooms and 21 suites

The hotel could accommodate meetings of up to 1,200 people, close proximity to many other attractions

Owned and operated by Nova International with 3,900 properties and 18 brands

Nova was known as an organization that puts people first and had revenue of $13 billion

Their Value was spirit to serve and to create better places to live and work
Situation analysis

Laura Green was responsible for recruiting a selection team and managing the selection
process
There was a opening position of Senior Event Manager

Two candidate for the position – Shannon Smith and Matt Mayes
Selection team was composed of: the hiring manager, boss of the hiring manager, peers of
the position
Options available are to hiring one, hiring neither and hiring both

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Main characters

Laura Green Shannon Smith Matt Mayes

Director of Event External candidate-

Internal candidate-
Planning, Hiring worked as a senior
working in the hotel
Manager - Nova event manager at a
for more than 3 years
Waterfront Hotel smaller Nova hotel
Had an associate
Completed one year of
Working with the degree in business
college at James
company for 15 years administration from
MadisonUniversity
Pierce College
Responsible for Nova’s
selection and Had an easy going and Had a dominant and
behavioral informal style formal style
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interviewing processes
Michelle Sederas Alex Hartnett John Wilson

Senior Banquet
Director of Event
Event Manager at Manager at the
Management at the
the Nova Waterfront Nova Waterfront
Nova Waterfront
Hotel Hotel, joined the
Hotel
hotel in 2001

Graduated from the Had a degree in Had been with the

University of hotel and catering
Delaware with a from New Castle company for 23
hospitality major College years

She started a week

after graduation and He did an 11-month Grew up in the UK,
was promoted to internship at the his father taught
event manager a Chicago Nova hotel management 5
year later
Organizational Structure

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Candidates comparison

Shannon Smith Matt Mayes

Shannon is one of the best event

Matt works at a smaller sister property
managers at Nova

Had consistently received good Worked with 600 person groups, lacked
performance evaluations experience of handling larger events

Had an excellent track record planning Had a dominant and formal style,
events hungry for growth

Internal candidate that lacked External candidate with some leadership

leadership skills skills
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 Selection process

Receive offer
Phone Screen
or Feedback

Apply Interview

 Nova used a structured, behavioral approach to interviewing

 Hiring manager was responsible for coordinating with the external recruiting
 Used outside recruiting and selection firm because staffing was a challenge in the hospitality industry
 Manager was also responsible for posting the job, interviewing schedule, facilitating the selection team debrief
 Contracted with a firm to screen resumes, select candidates for phone screening, conduct the phone screening interviews
 Growth in jobs in the hospitality sector and the relatively low pay resulted in high turnover
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 Problems

 Hiring team was in dilemma as to whom to select for the role of the Senior Event Manager

 Both the candidates had weak leadership skills

 Shannon was expected her to leave if didn’t get promoted

 Green was jumbled whether Should she hire to a very high standard or give people the opportunity to grow
into the position

 Inability to make a decision whether to hire or not

 Inability to estimate candidate’s capabilities

 Lack of proper human resource planning 9

 Recommendations

Provide both the candidates the same position and analyze their performance

The one who performs better will be hired

The other one can be hired and utilized in different part of Nova Hotel Business

It can also be recommended to hire both as they can be utilized in their own better way

One person from the company should be appointed to look after the process undertaken by the organization

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Thank you

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