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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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 timely
helped 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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Contents
CHAPTER 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 employees point of view .............................................................................................. 12
From organizations 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; IF YOU ARE PLANNING FOR CENTURIES,
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. Its 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:
Personal

Objectives
Functional
Objectives
Organisation
al
Objectives

Societal
Objectives

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 departments 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 )

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CHAPTER 2: CAREER PLANNING, MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The term career means the unfolding sequence of a persons 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,
its 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, selfdevelopment, 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, softwares,
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 doesnt 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 ones 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 dont put efforts towards managing your own career, youll
probably end up managing someone elses 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

Readjust or
new transition

Research

Make
decesions and
set goals

Taking Action

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Self-Assessment

Self-Assessment is all about knowing yourself. The more you know about what youre likes,
your skills, what your passion is, what interest you, the more likely it is that youll 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. Its 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 Transitions

Basically, 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 selfdevelopment. 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 dont 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 employees 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 employees
career development doesnt restrict to organization. If his current organization doesnt
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 organizations point of view

From organizations 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 didnt provide much of the career development options. At that
time, career development meant job promotion in same company. Company never mentored
employees 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 Indias 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 companys own program
have heavy fees like Tajs 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 hows. 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 and
attentive 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 Managers 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. Oberois 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 , Oberoiss 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 nonmanagement 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 magazines 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 Indias Best Companies to Work for 2012 by Great Place to
Work Institute. The company claims that it doesnt 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 its 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 seasons 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 organizations 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 dont 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 isnt 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 its 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 isnt
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up to mark too. Lets 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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