Career Planning Career Management and CA

8/18/2019 Career Planning Career Management and CA

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INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT,

AURANGABAD

HOSPITALITY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Career Planning, Career Management and Career Development.

Career paths provided by Indian and Foreign companies and their Comparison.

Mandotra. A (H-19041)

“Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirement for B.A. (Hons.) In Hotel Management”

THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD,

UNITED KINGDOM

April 2013


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IHM- Aurangabad Hospitality Human Resource Management

2

Mandotra.A ( H-19041)

DECLARATION

I declare that this project is the result of my own collective efforts and that it conform to

university, department and course regulations regarding cheating and plagiarism. No material

contained within this project has been used in any other submission by the author for an

academic award.

Akshat Mandotra

April 2013


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ACKNOWLEGMENT

This project has been completed not only by my efforts but several others who have timelyhelped me at every step I moved forward. I would like to thank my module tutor Dr S. P.

Rath for giving this opportunity to work on such an enlightening topic. I would also like to

thank my family for providing me with full support, help and motivation at the time when I

needed it the most.


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Abstract

“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever

seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are

going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them

-Denis Watley”

With the changes in time and the dynamism of the hotel industry that we work in, there has

also been a vast change in career realities. In this project, we are going to learn about the

career management, career planning and career development from my understanding. We

learn about the meaning, importance and processes of these three subjects. Once we have a

proper understanding of what the concepts are, we will analyse the Indian hotel companies

from the career point of view and compare it with multinational company so that we can have

a fair idea about the career trends and human resources practices in India. Once we know the

career trends and practices in India, we will discuss the shortcomings of HR system and

practices in India to show the areas where vast improvement is needed. We will close with a

conclusion based on all our experience which we learnt while reading the subject of this

project.


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ContentsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 6

1.1 Objectives of Human Resource Management .............................................................................. 7

CHAPTER 2: CAREER PLANNING, MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT ................................................ 8

2.1 Career Management: .................................................................................................................... 8

Goal Identification, Organization and Execution ............................................................................ 9

2.2 Career Planning: .......................................................................................................................... 10

Self-Assessment ............................................................................................................................ 11

Research ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Make Decisions and Set Goals ...................................................................................................... 11

Take Actions .................................................................................................................................. 11

Readjust or New Transitions ......................................................................................................... 11

2.3 Career Development ................................................................................................................... 12

From the employee’s point of view .............................................................................................. 12

From organization’s point of view ................................................................................................ 13

CHAPTER: 3 CAREER PATHS PROVIDED BY INDIAN AND FOREIGN COMPANIES. ................................. 14

3.1 ITC HOTELS .................................................................................................................................. 14

3.2 THE OBEROI GROUP .................................................................................................................... 17

3.3 FOUR SEASONS HOTELS AND RESORTS. ..................................................................................... 20

Problems with Human Resources in India. ................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER: 4 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 24


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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

“IF YOU ARE PLANNING FOR ONE YEAR, GROW RICE; IF YOU ARE PLANNING

FOR TWENTY YEARS, GROW TREES; I F YOU ARE PLANNING FOR CENTURI ES,

GROW PEOPLE”

(A CHINESE PROVERB)

Human Resource Management is the one that deals with the recruitment, managing and

training of the employee, any problems or ill functioning within an organization. Issues

related to compensation, hiring or firing, salaries, motivation, benefits all these are dealt by a

Human Resource Manager. In order to make the company work with proper rules and

regulations, to get effective outcomes from the workers and for productivity, it should have a

well-trained HR manager. Certain strategies are put forward by him to the head of the

company so that it functions well and revenue is generated. It depends on the effective and

efficient utilization of resources in order to fulfil two main goals which are necessary for any

corporation or other type of organization. First is to utilize the talent of the employees in such

a manner that the operational objectives which are the eventual aim of the organization are

fulfilled. It’s not only just about achieving the goals of the organization but human resource

management also seeks to ensure that every individual employee of the organization is

satisfied with both the working atmosphere and also the compensation and benefits that he or

she receives. A good HRM team will help their employees to perform to their best of

capabilities in order achieve the overall company direction and also the completion of the

organizational goals and objectives. It will make sure that they have a record of all their

employees, who all are placed where, are they aware of the goals of the company and well

trained in the company, and the main thing is to keep their employees happy and pleased

because a person who enjoys their work atmosphere, surroundings will always be loyal to the

company and work to its best capabilities. (Decenzo & Robbins, 2005 )


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1.1 Objectives of Human Resource Management

The primary objectives of HRM are to ensure the availability of a competent and willing

workforce to an organization. Specifically, HRM has four fold objectives as stated below

with the help of the diagram:

Figure 1.3-Objectives of HRM

Personal Objectives: It is highly essential for the retaining, maintaining and

motivating the employees that their personal objectives are met duly. Otherwise,

employee performance and satisfaction may decline and employee may leave the

organization. It aims at helping employees in their personal goals as long as their

goals increase their dedication towards the organization. It is necessary to do so as for

retaining the employees in the hotel and motivating them time to time.

Functional Objectives: These help in maintaining the department’s input at a level

appropriate to the needs of the organization.

Organizational Objectives: These objectives point the roles of human resource

management in bringing all-round organizational efficiency.

Societal Objectives: These objectives point out the ethical and social obligation of

the organization towards the problems needs and wants of the society in which it

exists. (Decenzo & Robbins, 2005 )

Personal

Objectives

Functional

Objectives

Organisational

Objectives

Societal

Objectives


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CHAPTER 2: CAREER PLANNING, MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The term career means the unfolding sequence of a person’s work experiences over time

(Arthur, Hall, and Lawrence 1989) .A career can be defined as a sequence of various paid and

unpaid occupation that one undertakes during his or her lifetime. It is a sum total of various

processes and shifts in life path. When we talk about career, it mainly refers to the

professions and posts one undertakes but other things like lifestyle, unpaid work, activities

with friends etc. also play an equally important part in our career. Earlier, careers meant

people following the footpaths of their forefathers, mostly retiring in same job but nowadays,

it’s a very vast term, careers are highly dynamic. Now, careers are boundary less. Careers are

not bounded to one single company, field or nation. People change their companies, jobs or

even the industry they work in. A lot of other factors like work environment, self-

development, security etc. hold a lot more importance now. This is so because of the whole

new economy we are working in. There is more competition between companies. It is more

like a responsibility of a company now to design or provide a career growth path for its

employees in order to hire and retain them. Companies go further ahead now providing the

opportunities to its employees for career development in the hope for loyalty and better

output. So, in this age of dynamism, managing your career or career management is very

important. We shall discuss it now. (Hayes & Ninemeier, 2013 )

2.1 Career Management:

“Career management uses concepts similar to good financial management. A good rule

of thumb to keep in mind is that a disciplined investment, made on a regular basis,

yields a greater return.” – Anonymous

Career management can be defined as a self-monitored life long process of getting to choose

your goals, setting them and formulating strategies to achieve them. It is the process through

which one becomes aware of his own interests, strengths, weakness, desires from which he

obtains information and formulates career goals, design action plan needed to achieve that

goal and progress on that plan time to time. It is important nowadays to manage careers and

no manager, firm or career support organization can help us as better as ourselves. One

cannot sit back and expect everything to take shape itself when it comes to career.

Career management is an active process that requires day to day thinking and executing. The

work environment is a lot more dynamic nowadays. There are a lot of trends, software’s,

techniques, theories and other information that come up on day to day basis so to stay up to


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date, one has to adapt a lot of changes. Some business may experience shut down or down

fall while others may flourish. If one doesn’t really show activeness in achieving their own

goals, they will probably end up in helping someone else achieve his dreams. Career

Management is a very well structured process. Career goal is not just a normal goal that can

be achieved at one go. It is a long term goal that can only be achieved after one goes through

certain short term goals. In the path of career, these short term goals are milestones.

One has to structure his whole career path of how milestones will lead to the ultimate goal.

This brings clarity of thought and unity in direction of one’s action. It is an active and

structured process. One cannot sit back and expect the career to manage itself. It requires

attention and efforts. If you don’t put efforts towards managing your own career, you’ll

probably end up managing someone else’s career. It has to be planned properly in a

structured way. Structure helps us is checking time to time progress, goals and efforts needed

to achieve those goals. It helps in directing the efforts towards career goals.

Goal Identification, Organization and Execution

This is the first step of career management. One has to take in consideration their interests,

hobbies, strength, aspirations and decide the ultimate goal he wants to achieve. Once aware

of it, one has to make a big picture of what he wants to do with his life and identify the big

goals they want to achieve. Once a person is aware of his goals in large, he has to break down

these into further smaller goals that he much achieve to reach his target. A useful way of

making career goals more mnemonic is using the SMART Goals

S-Specific

M-Measureable

A-Attainable

R -Relevant

T-Time Bound and Track able

Once all the short term and long term goals have been identified, they have to be well

structured in succession. These goals have to be brought to action in daily actions and the

progress needs to be measure time to time so that one has an idea about where he is , what he

is doing , how is it going to help him in achieving his goal.


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2.2 Career Planning:

It is an incessant deliberate process in which one decides the course of action they need to

undertake in order to reach their career goals. It is a process where you -

Explore yourself, think what you want to be in long term, what you are capable of and

explore your abilities.

Plan your career objectives strategically.

Take action

It aims at matching the career goals of an individual with the available opportunities. It not

only helps one in developing their career objectives but also helps in planning on how to

achieve them. It brings clarity of thought and action in an individual about where he wants to

go and how can he reach there. It also helps is time to time tracing the progress one makes

during their career. This planning helps us develop in the current dynamic environment where

changes in demand and labor supply, competitions, technology and market strategies is very

vital and fast.

Career Planning Can Be Divided Into Five Parts

Self-Assessment

Research

Make Decisions And Set Goals

Take Actions

Readjust Or New Transitions

Assesment

Research

Makedecesions and

set goalsTaking Action

Readjust or

new transition


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Self-Assessment

Self-Assessment is all about knowing yourself. The more you know about what you’re likes,

your skills, what your passion is, what interest you, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to

make good decisions about your career. It is something that you will keep revisiting at as

your interests, skill and other things change with time.

Research

Once a person is wary of himself, his skills, wants, likes and values, then he enters this

information gathering phase. It’s all about matching what you have or what you want to be

with what opportunities are offered. It is more of stepping into job market. One has to be

available of opportunities available that match with his self-assessment and then go into

further analysis of job available like volunteering, internships, management training,

placement rates etc.

Make Decisions and Set Goals

After knowing what the available careers, evaluating them and comparing them with other

alternatives, one has to start narrowing the options and make a decision about the career he

wants to venture into with a clear vision of where he wants to be. This is a very important

part. After the person has set his career goal, he has to further go into deciding the path of

achieving it. This path consists of various short term objectives. At the end of this step, one

must have a clear and structured idea of his career objective and career path.

Take Actions

Now this is where one starts putting the whole career plan into action. Here, person starts

getting into sources of further training and education, one starts developing strategies for job,

gathering company information etc. It also comprises of stages during job where one has to

keep a track of their career plans and progress.

Readjust or New TransitionsBasically, all the studies on internet just provide you the first four steps as a part of career

process but this is what I feel are a part of our career plans now. Modern day work

environment is dynamic and people are a lot more selective. The attrition rates have increased

than previous years as people are now more vary about better opportunities for life and self-

development. New transitions are a part of career planning where one shifts his career

horizontally and starts from the step one of re analyzing himself and setting new goals.


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2.3 Career Development

Traditionally, career development meant the evolvement of career in one or two firms as a

linear progress with workers moving upwards in the position hierarchy of the organization.

Today, it is boundary less. Boundary less career is the latest concept in career. Then, careers

were not given much importance. Then , getting along with the company meant doing what

the company wanted you to do, and progressing forward meant being thankful the

opportunities the company offered . Now , getting along means company understanding the

career goals of the employee and providing structured career path and progressing forward

means employee satisfactorily taking new positions in the company or shifting horizontally ,

diagonally if needed . Now, employees are very conscious about their career. Organizations

that don’t cater attention to the individual goals of an employee will probably be losing its

value employees. So, we can say that there are two definitions of career development.

From the employee’s point of view

For an employee, career development refers to acquiring set of skills and new position to

exercise these skills time to time. Regardless of the leadership of the company, it is the duty

of the employee that their self-development and career

development goals are achieved as stated in planning.

Employees must assess what they expect from their

current job, as well as in future. It is duty of employees to

find out the professional development opportunities,

training and educational learning options available to

them like seminars, workshops. It focuses not only on

acquiring skills but increasing your strengths and

decreasing your weakness. For example, an employee

who is not that fluent in communication can enroll in

interview preparation program where mock interviews are conducted to improve the

speaking skills and response to the questions. Employees need to develop new and better

skills in order to be promoted within the organization. In current scenario, an employee’s

career development doesn’t restrict to organization. If his current organization doesn’t

provide him/her much chances or career progression, there will be other organizations that

will be willing to and shifting to those organizations on same or higher position is also a part

of their career development. The difference between the successful professionals and others

is not lack of strength or knowledge but the lack of will. Until the employees are proactive,

companies cannot do anything about their career development. (Anon., 2013)


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From organization’s point of view

From organization’s point of view, career development means matching the career goals of

the employees with the present and future needs and goals of the organization.

Earlier, the organizations didn’t provide much of the career development options. At that

time, career development meant job promotion in same company. Company never mentored

employee’s skills and further education. The career development programs started trending

around 1970s as organizations went ahead to meet the expectations and needs of its

employees. A 1991 survey of more than 1000 private industries indicates that more than 70%

of respondent companies were in process of or planning to implement career development

programs. We can notice that this career development programs from the side of company

have been around for long. Another survey by American Management Association in 1978

states that 90% of respondents think that career development programs enhance the job

efficiency of employees and improves the utilization of the talent. We can say that nowadays,

it is not the organization is doing employee a favor by providing career development

opportunities. It has become ethical responsibility of all organizations to do so.

(Merchant Jr, n.d.)


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CHAPTER: 3 CAREER PATHS PROVIDED BY INDIAN AND FOREIGN

COMPANIES.

Now that we are clear with what is career management, career planning and career

development, we will talk about it in the context to Indian hospitality industry. We shall

follow the approach of comparing organically Indian hotel companies with the multinational

hotel companies operating in India to see the difference of strategies, philosophy, and attitude

towards the career management, career planning and career development. In organically

Indian context, we shall refer to ITC and Oberois that have been among the leaders of Indian

hospitality industry since decades.

3.1 ITC HOTELS

ITC Hotels is India’s second largest hotel chain with more than 100 hotels in more than 75

destinations across the nation. It is owned by ITC Group Ltd. ITC Hotels started in India

with opening of Hotel Chola in Chennai. It is very well known when it comes to Indian

Hospitality. ITC believes in contributing to the economy and tourism of India which is one of

the reasons that even after such a good reputation and turnover, it has never ventured to

opening properties in international destinations. Its slogan is “Citizen First” that conveys the

priority of the company. It is very much well-known brand in global context too. Global

leaders like Bill Gates, Vladimir Putin or George Bush prefer to stay in ITC Properties like

Maurya when they visit India. It is one of the exclusive members of The Luxury Collection

by Starwoods Hotels and Resorts. It has introduced the concept of “Responsible Luxury” to

the hospitality industry. Its sustainable and environmental practices are the best in Indian

hospitality industry. All its ten luxury properties are LEEDS (Leadership in Environmental &

Energy Design) Platinum certified. ITC has been regularly voted as the best employer in Asia

when it comes to hospitality industry. It believes in employee engagement. ITC Hotels have

appointed Gallup, a strategic consultancy company that does employee engagement surveys.

Gallup provides a questionnaire name Gallup Q12 to all if the hotel employees. This

questionnaire has a set of 12 questions

Do you know what is expected of you at work?

Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right?

At work, do you have opportunity to do what you do best every day?

In the last seven days, have you received the recognition or praise for doing good

work?

Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?


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Is there someone at work who encourages your development?

At work, do your opinions seem to count?

Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?

Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work? Do you have a best friend at work?

In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?

In the last year, have you had the opportunities to grow?

After every employee has filled the questionnaire, the consultancy firm calculates the

statistics and studies the result. It then provides hotel with suggestions and solutions in case

there is any deviation from the standard or negative result. (Anand, 2011)ITC has also introduced “Departmental Open Fora”. As per this, all the employees from one

department meet once in every four months under these foras to discuss issues related to

working environment. (Anon., 2013 ) This is how the smallest of the errors and the weakest

of the points of any department in the hotel are pointed out and rectified for better employee

engagement and satisfaction. The company aims at having 100% employee retention. There

is a psyche in Indian hotel industry that people who join ITC seldom leave it. It has also

helped its properties achieve certain sigma rating. The Six Sigma rating for ITC Maratha

currently stands at 3.8 in Phase 3.

ITC Hotels also try to engage employees in learning programs so that they are up to date with

the knowledge in this vast and dynamic industry. For example, it holds 45 day training

program for selected F&B professionals from various hotels in the field of wine and

viticulture. They sample more than 160 wines at once which make it one of the most

comprehensive training courses offered by any hotel to its employees. (Shukla.Ranjan, 2013)

ITC is among the few hotel industries in India with their own management programs. It raises

and grooms its own future managers. It offers two management programs, both headquartered

in Gurgaon.

WelcomLegionnaire Programme is the most unique program in hotel and hospitality

management offered in India. It is a four year program eligible for boys who pass out of their

XII. The uniqueness about this program is that while all other hotel company’s own program

have heavy fees like Taj’s IHM-Aurangabad itself, this program is wholly sponsored and

funded by ITC Hotels. Not only is the cost of program funded by ITC but they also pay their

trainee students a handsome stipend. It is divided into two parts


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Formative Phase – This two yearlong phase aims at introducing students to hotel

industry with all the theoretical knowledge and know how’s. It is when the students

acquire basic hoteliering skills and qualities. During this phase , students also pursue

Bachelors in Tourism Studies from IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University)

Management Training – This phase is spread over two years where the students get

practical exposure in various ITC Hotels across the country.

On successful completion, the students are awarded an ITC Welcomgroup Diploma in

Hospitality Management and Bachelors in Tourism Studies. All these graduates are absorbed

In ITC itself starting as Assistant Managers for five year contract, which is a very good start

to get in hotel industries. It also offers 18 month management training programs for

specialization in various departments of a hotel for those who have done diploma or

graduation in Hotel Management.

It has programs divided into area of specialization

Hotel Management Training Program

Kitchen Management Training Program

Housekeeping Management Training Program

Front Office Executive Training Program

Food & Beverage Executive Training Program

Food & Beverage Support Executive Training Program

Sales & Marketing Executive Training Program

Revenue Management Executive Training Program

Finance Executive Training Program

Spa Executive Training Program

Watching the programs ITC has to offer one can say it provides its students with proper

career planning and support. It also provides variety of career development opportunities as

students are rotated to other ITC properties across the country. As a company, ITC has very

well managed to provide proper work environment and career development opportunities to

its employees. As a company for whole, it has managed to tackle the current problems of

Indian Human Resources Scenario where there is high attrition rate by having just 11%

attrition rate, well below the industrial average. At the time where a lot of managers in hotel

industries are being lured by marketing, hospitals, airlines and other sectors, ITC retained its

managers by benchmarking its salaries to those of other industries. It also started paying

retention bonus to the employees who stayed with company for more than three years. It


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understood that not only is pay a part of the employee satisfaction but other intangible things

like ability to express, ability to move within the organization etc. also help in employee

development and retention. It has been awarded as the best employer in India by the Govt. Of

India. Let us take example of Mr. Sunil Sikka, who started as a bellboy and in his 30 year

career with ITC , he got 17 promotions and rose to the rank of GM !

3.2 THE OBEROI GROUP

Founded back in 1934, The Oberoi Group boasts more than 28 luxurious properties and 3

cruisers under the luxury “Oberoi” and five stars “Trident” brand. Its hotels like Udaivilas,

Amarvilas have won a lot of international accolades and recognition. The Oberois Group has

created its own niche among the luxurious as well as corporate travelers. Oberois is known

for their distinctive, highly motivated and trained staffs who provide very personalized andattentive service to its customers. The Oberoi Group is highly inclined towards the employees

of its hotels. Most of its hotels that feature in lists of top hotels Conde Nast, Travel+Leisure

are not just because of the property but the exceptional service provided from its staff. To

ensure this quality of service, the staff needs participative and stress free working

environment.

As per Amrita Bhalla, the executive vice president of human resources, the core values have

taken shape through the dharma made by their own employees. This dharma comprises of

Ethics of highest standard

Loyalty and teamwork

Guest first, the organization second & self at last.

Two way communication.

Respect for fellow employees.

Ensuring the optimum safety, security, health & environment.

The company believes in provided co-curricular environment full of enthusiasm and action

where employees are motivated to get their job well done day to day. It organises events like

dance competitions, talent hunt, skills competitions for its employees. To ensure the two way

communication, it has an open door policy. Employees are welcome to interact and share

their problems, suggestions with any senior. Some of the forums are mentioned below.

Team Heart And Minds – This is a forum for newly hired employees where they can

share their experiences, suggestions and feedbacks.

Round Table-It is a forum where the GM of the hotel interacts with the team members

to share opinions, views, information and laughter.


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Job Chats-It is a progressive forum where employees interact with the reporting

managers to get an update about their job performance and work improvements.

General Manager’s Address-This is a forum where whole hotel employees get

together with GM to review the way forward. Team Departmental Discussion-This is a forum where team of any department meets

to discuss the problems, strategies and other work related information.

Employees love to work in an environment where can add their own touch. This is where

“The Power of 1500” comes in. This gives the employee a right to offer anything to guest at a

cost value of 1500 INR any number of times to any number of guests without any approval or

questions asked. This motivates the employee and brings the personalized service out of

them. A motivated employee is the best asset, so for further motivation, it provides them

variety of monetary and non-monetary incentives. It has a concept of appreciation tree. Here,

seniors and tem members can place an appreciation on a leaf shaped paper on the

appreciation tree placed in the hotel cafeteria. It ensures on the recognition among fellow

employees and a sense of pride in work. Oberois , along with Taj and ITC , is among the few

hotel companies that provide their own training programmers. Oberoi’s STEP (Systematic

Training and Education Programme) Program is among the most reputed hotel management

training institutes in India and it is very well respected abroad too. It is associated with

International Hotel Association of Paris. The whole course is on sidelines with the one

offered by ITC WelcomLegionnaire program. It offers a Bachelors of Tourism Studies degree

from Indira Gandhi National Open University. On completion of course, these graduates

along with their degree receive a certificate of proficiency from Oberois and are absorbed

into Oberois as operational assistants. For those who have completed their graduation or

diploma in the studies of hotel management, Oberois Centre of Learning and Development

offers post graduate studies and training. It is considered as one of the best training institutes

for executive post in hotels. The step program pass outs along can also absorb into this

training. It offers two year management training programs in-

Guest Services Management- This training program focuses on the two main

departments of the hotel that actually interact and involve with the customers, food &

beverage department and front office department. On the completion of this training

program, one can become Food and Beverage manager or Front Office Manager in

any of the Oberois hotel.


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Housekeeping Management- This program focuses on all aspects of housekeeping

department in a hotel providing advanced training about hygiene, standards, details,

guest interaction, personnel management etc. On completion of this program, once

can start as Executive Housekeeper in any of the Oberois hotel.

Kitchen Management-It focuses on advancing the culinary skills and ability to

manage all the kitchens of a hotel. On completion of this, one can become executive

chef in any of the Oberois hotel.

Oberoi Central Employment Register is another career option provided by Oberois for hotel

management graduates across the country. OCER recruitment is held across the various hotel

management colleges across the nation. Candidates can also apply directly for this

Programme. OCER recruitment is done annually and selected candidates go under

specialization course for any of the four operational departments in the hotel namely

Food & Beverage Operations

Front office operations

Housekeeping operations

Kitchen operations

Once the training is completed, they are absorbed in Oberois as operations assistant. They can

further opt for managerial training program OCLD, during all this training, Oberois provides

meals, accommodation, transport, medical insurance during all this training hence the

candidates are more focused on their professional career without any worry about small

personal needs. We see the ample of career growth opportunities provided by Oberois in their

training programs. It not just provides a career path but also promotes career growth of

people within the organization. Most of the GMs of Oberois hotels or senior executives in

corporate office are OCLD pass outs. In this time of high attrition rate , Oberois’s pre

structured way of absorbing students from its own institutes and promoting from within have

worked very well . Oberoi pays special attention to retention of its employees. Its non-

management employees get around 10% retention bonus on their annual salaries while

management employees like top level supervisors get 50% retention bonus on their annual

salaries. It has gone beyond just retaining its employees by greed of money. It believes in

time to time motivation of employees like letter from the peers, appreciation by the seniors

also go long way in making the employees attached to the organization. Now, in the context

to multinational hotel chains working in India, we shall talk about Four Seasons Hotels


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3.3 FOUR SEASONS HOTELS AND RESORTS.

It is a Canada based hotel company very well reputed in the hotel industry for its 90+

luxurious hotels and resorts. It has always featured in FORTUNE magazine’s 100 best

companies to work for since 1988 and is among the few hotel companies in Top 100. In

India also, it has been awarded as India’s Best Companies to Work for 2012 by Great Place to

Work Institute. The company claims that it doesn’t hire employees for their skill but for their

attitude. It states that it follows the golden rule “We aimed to treat others as we would want

to be treated ourselves”.

Four Seasons offer every other thing that any professional would dream of, a chance to build

lifelong career with real pride in what he does and global potential. The Four Seasons

believes that the key to customer engagement is employee engagement. They give timely

recognition and rewards to their employees like “Employee of the Month,” “Employee of the

Quarter,” and “Employee of the Year”. It is the duty of the hotel GM to write personalized

thank you note to any employee who has been recognized by the customers for his service

and care. It also encourages its employees to shift to other properties after working for 6

months by providing job opportunities. This is one of the reasons why it has such low

attrition rate. It helps employees in each and every personal problem he can get. It encourages

managers to sit down with employees and know their problems, whether family, financial or

whatsoever and does it’s best possible. It does not treat its employees as a labor who are

being paid for what they do but as a family members who help you grow. Four Seasons has

assisted more than 2000 of its employees in personal career planning. Four seasons conducts

regular employee attitude surveys. These surveys show the attitude of employee towards the

organization and the results indicate that four season’s hotels enjoy very high loyalty rating.

It has Managers in Training Program for graduates from universities around the world. It is

divided into further two parts.

Roots Program-This program is for fresh graduates without any supervisory

experience. This program spans 12 month. In the first month, the students gain the

exposure to the hotel. For next four months, they go under first job rotation. With a

gap of one month for holiday, they come back and go under second job rotation for

five months. During the course, they provide proper training plan to students. They

assign a “Buddy” and a “Mentor” to every student. Buddy is a person who has already

gone through MIT program and Mentor is an employee, mostly a manager or assistant

manager who helps student know the culture of the organization. During this, they get


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nearly 40 hours of training by innovative e knowledge suite courses or blended

learning programs.

Branches Program-It is a three month program for students who have supervisory

exposure. It spans three months. The first month is hotel wide exposure followed by

gaining technical skills in second month and building departmental management skills

in final month. Again, one will receive around 40 hours of training theoretically and a

buddy who will guide him through the course.

Four seasons have different programs for those who join in as managers. These programs are

not just introductory but throughout the career for the employee development.

New Manager Orientation-It is a tailored and department specific orientation for the

new joining managers who are new to four seasons or even promoted from within.

STEPS Program-This program enhances the managerial and leadership skills of the

managers so that they can manage not only others but themselves at workplace. It has

six different modules related to leadership in Four Seasons Content.

Development Planning Program-This program gives managers a development plan to

achieve their goals. It includes the following

-Development Experience and Guidance

-Guidance and Mentorship

-Self Directed Learning

-On-line learning initiatives

Management Development Program-This program is designed to improve the

business, selling and management skills.

E-Knowledge Suite-It is an online learning resource available to all managers

24x7x365 for on the spot information which include e-learning courses and

certification courses from Cornell University , Management resources from Harvard

School , access to four seasons experts and video interviews of various GMs.

It definitely sets the b performance bench mark for standards of engaging and developing the

employees in hotel industry. A lot of hotel companies are customer centered, but Four

Seasons chairman and founder Mr. Isadore Sharp himself says that they are equally employee

centered. He believes that whole hotel is part of organization’s trust on its employees.

It has managed to retain talent because of time to time monetary and non-monetary incentives


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along with competitive salaries. It motivates its employees with recognition and employee

service awards. It not only addresses basic needs of professional environment of its

employees but also the personal assistance like life/disability/medical insurance. This makes

it one of the best foreign origin hotels in India to work for.

Problems with Human Resources in India.

Now that we have extensively studied two organically Indian and one foreign based hotel

group, their career development opportunities and other aspects, we shall come to a point of

discussing problem with the hotel human resources in India.

Employee Retention-As per a report by Ministry Of Tourism, India says that nearly

40% of the people who have undergone the courses in hotel and hospitality are

pursuing careers in other emerging service industries like call centers, hospitals,cellular companies etc. As per another study by ASSOCHAM regarding the attrition

rate and their effect on hospitality industry , if no corrective measures are taken then

the attrition rate will rise to as high as 50% in the next two years. Most of the survey

respondents explained better HR practices and salary package in other industries as a

reason. So one of the biggest challenges to fight the current 27% rate of attrition in

Indian hospitality industry, hotels need to adapt better practices and offer higher

salaries.

Poor Engagement-A lot of leading brands can be seen claiming on papers that their

practices are the best in the industry but ground reality is a lot different. In my work

experience with Carlson Rezidor which claims a lot of practices on its websites, I

never saw any employee participation in the whole system or involvement of manager

brass with operational brass. This is where employees start losing interest in the work

and environment which very much affects the whole hotel in itself.

Poor Salaries, Incentives and Bonuses- Indian hotel companies don’t offer salaries

at part with other service industries to its employees. It is only good at the

management level but the operational level where the people who actually run the

operations are involved, even the competitive high pay isn’t that high. There is hardly

any hotel company in India that pays its employees for overtime work. It is because

there has been a pre-established psyche that one has to work extra hours if duty calls

for it as it’s a part of the job. Even the foreign based hotels that follow over time

remuneration system in other countries have adapted to this psyche in India. Coming

to bonus, again, a very few companies provide bonus. And the bonus provided isn’t


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up to mark too. Let’s take example of IHCL, its operations employee (E8 Category)

will get bonus on 3 months basic pay while the top level like GM will get it on 11

month basic pay. In order to beat the high attrition rates, salaries need to be revised,

timely bonuses and extra work hour remuneration has to be introduced.


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CHAPTER: 4 CONCLUSION

After understanding the career planning, career management and career development in

detail, we have understood the importance of these three things in the current scenario where

the employees are very selective and sensitive about their work, working environment, and

career path and career development opportunities. Earlier, it was the employee who was

competing to get into the industry but now, it is the industry competing to get the talent.

Quoting a Deloitte data, there are more than 400 upcoming hotel projects in India in next two

years with more than 70,000 rooms. Another survey among 7000 employees and 250

employer states that attrition rate in Indian hospitality industry has increased to 22% in fourth

quarter of 2011-2012 with an 8% increase from previous year. This is an alarming data where

Indian hospitality industry in order to face this upcoming crisis will have to refine its

practices and take countermeasures to grow and retain talent. After studying the career

development, career path, employee engagement and other aspects to some specific Indian

hotel companies, we realize that Indian hotel companies have adopted a lot of new and

unique concepts, techniques and are offering a lot more now but still there is a long way to

go. Indian Hospitality may be at par with the international countries but the management

system is still same old in many organizations. We have at the end discussed the major

challenges that need to be addressed in order to fight current problems like attrition rate, poor

output etc. which can be used as the base for suggestive corrective actions that need to be

taken. (Chawla, 2012) (Anon., 2012)


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