Order type: AssignmentSubject: BusinessAcademic level: Not specifiedStyle: Harvard
Case Study – Huntsman Hotels plcHuntsman Hotels, PLC, owns more than 60 hotels throughout the United Kingdom.Huntsman’s hotels are considered budget accommodations; they are functional, cleanand reasonably priced. Additional information about UK hotel standards is available athttps://www.qualityintourism.com/quality-schemes/hotels/Most guests stay for one to three nights and are a combination of businessmen during theworking week and leisure travellers at weekends and during the holiday seasons. The hotels arePage 3 of 5typically situated in downtown locations and the city centres are easily accessible by publictransport. Tourists are attracted as many of the hotels are in popular visitor destinations wherethe many local attractions mean that they will not be spending much time in their hotel rooms.Due to fierce competition in the hotel industry from groups such as Travelodge, Premier Inns andIbis, there has been a shortage within the industry of managerial staff leading to difficulties instaffing. This has impacted on Huntsman particularly badly and restricted the growth plans of thecompany. In some cases, this has led to bookings being cancelled at short notice due to illnesswhich seems to have become a growing problem for Huntsman, damaging their reputation andcausing frustration amongst staff. This has necessitated the use of agency staff on occasion.The Managing Director of Huntsman is Giuseppe Salieri who also owns 51% of the shares. He is awell-known businessman and entrepreneur with various business interests, having made hissizeable fortune in financial investment. He inherited the company from his father back in 2007having identified a need for a well-run budget hotel chain to serve the needs of business people inand around London, but, in the light of the subsequent recession, has since expanded theoperation to include hotels in the other major cities in the country. He has bold expansion plansand has a reputation as a shrewd individual, taking swift action where he believes there to be anyunderperformance or laziness. Managing people is not his strength unfortunately, andconsequently he has had a high turnover of staff, especially in his senior management team.Jacques Marechal , their newly appointed Head of HR, has been recruited from arch rival Ibis tohelp address the problems. He has worked in the UK and on the continent. He is faced with aformidable task, especially since he is aware that Huntsman has a poor reputation for managingits people, and has already experienced first-hand low morale and problems with workforceplanning. He knows he has a short time to identify the key issues and to come up with somesolutions before he becomes the next one to be fired. He has particular concerns about theirrecruitment & selection processes, as there have been two recent tribunal cases wheresubstantial damages were paid out due to discrimination and other irregularities. He also hopes tobuild in some contingency into the staffing model, so that staff can be re-deployed into differentroles when shortages occur.The organisation has a flat structure with most key decisions being made by Giuseppe himself.Managers tend to be aloof and are viewed as somewhat elite by the other employees, a viewreinforced by internal communication driven from the top. It is semi-unionised with many staffbeing members of the GMB whereas managers are largely not unionised. There have beensporadic industrial disputes with Huntsman in the past although recently relations have beenimproving.There is no formalised wage structure and any rises have been made on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis eitherbecause there was a perceived need to reward loyalty or to prevent someone from leaving. Therehave been accusations of favouritism by some disgruntled employees towards Giuseppe’s innerPage 4 of 5circle, mainly family members who hold several top positions in the company as well owning asthe majority of the remaining company shares. Junior staff tend to get blamed if things go wrongand there is a ‘them and us’ culture.Giuseppe has four main aims1. To increase the competitive advantage of his organisation in the UK2. To expand into Europe, particularly the EU.3. To develop strategic partnerships with other hotel organisations4. To invite a takeover by a larger group in the next few years as another of his businessventures is in need of an injection of capital, and he sees a need to make his sharesattractive to potential investors.The company recently acquired a small hotel chain headquartered in Marseille. Giuseppedecided that half of the new hotels in France would be retained and rebranded as part of theHuntsman Hotels Group; the other half will be sold. Giuseppe has decided to send some of hisexisting UK-based managers, mainly family members, to France to lead the changeover of the newhotels and then manage them after they re-open. He knows that he has insufficient managerialstaff to cover the new enterprise and needs to recruit more, in order to support Huntsman’sstrategic objective of growing the organization slowly to make sure that new ventures are wellsupported and opened on time and on budget.If this new overseas venture is successful, Huntsman may decide to acquire or partner with othersmall hotel groups in other European countries. Giuseppe would like to own 150 hotels in the nextfive years. His 10-year plan is to own 300 hotels across Europe. This is an ambitious target, so it isimportant that the organization finds an effective formula to operate successfully across thegroup.The organization has never owned any hotels outside the UK before, Jacques knows that none oftheir existing managers speak French fluently. He has only four weeks to rebrand and staff thehotels. The new hotels must be ready to open after that time.He will be expected to recruit a large number of staff for the new French hotels, because morethan 70 percent of the employees from the acquired organization left.Managers and staff will need to be flexible and move between countries if any problems arise.In their company literature, the organization states that their core values are to:? Provide excellent levels of customer service to all guests.? Provide a clean and comfortable environment for guests and staff.? Recruit and retain excellent staff.Page 5 of 5? Support and develop staff so they can reach their full potential.? Continuously strive to improve all aspects of the business.? Ensure that all hotel buildings, fixtures and fittings are well-maintained in a proactivemanner.Task 1a. Adopting the role of the newly appointed Head of HR, prepare an informal memo of 1000words for internal staff only that presents the need for change on THREE key HR issues ofyour choosing. Balance your discussions with content designed to overcome any resistanceto change and to keep employees on your side. A brief mention of international issueswould be appropriate 45 marksb. Following some research, design a one-page job advertisement for a new deputy hotelmanager in the UK that is compliant with current legislation. Include any other elementsthat you see fit in order to present the job accurately and in an attractive manner withoutmisrepresenting the vacancy. 20 marksTask 2Adopting the role of the Managing Director Giuseppe Salieri design a 10-minute PowerPointpresentation intended for potential investors and existing shareholders to convince them of yourplans to change the management of HR in Huntsman. You will centre on improved organisationalefficiency achieved through leading HR management, and the benefits that the changes will bringto the company and its profitability. You will need to convince them that their share investmentand future dividends are safe, whilst preparing them for some possible difficult decisions alongthe way. Many members of your audience will be highly knowledgeable so you will need toinclude key phrases, and you should assume they have a reasonable understanding of HRprinciples.35 marksN.B. It is suggested that no more than 8 slides be used. The content is more important than thepresentation itself, although it should be clear and legible.
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