Category: Marriott

Introduction

Workplace diversity, as a global organisational phenomenon, has captured the attention of researchers, experts and opinion makers in different fields of science (Mahadevan & Mayer 2017; de Aquino & Robertson 2017; Profili, Sammarra & Innocenti 2017; Chin & Trimble 2014; Hays-Thomas 2016; Triana 2017). Diversity in the workplace has also been discussed in different seminars, conferences and training workshops, as alluded in the works of Atyah (2015).

Many of these training courses strive to explain how to promote organisational diversity, while consultancy companies have taken a proactive role to provide advice to managers on how to improve group dynamics and intergenerational productivity (Atyah 2015; Crowley, Payne & Kennedy 2014).

It is important to understand the concept of workplace diversity in today’s workplace environment because several social, political and economic forces are influencing employee satisfaction. For example, in America, millions of immigrants have found placement in several industries as employees. They have unique needs and preferences, which could ultimately affect how they perform (Atyah 2015). In other western counties, like Canada and Australia, many illegal immigrants are employed as casual or semi-skilled labourers (Atyah 2015).

These employees often come with different skill sets, cultural orientations, beliefs and norms about their jobs, based on their ages or places of origin (Duntley-Matos et al. 2017). Generally, the effects of these differences in values vary across different regions, but age variation is a universal problem for many companies because few organisations employ people from only one age group (de Aquino & Robertson 2017; Profili, Sammarra & Innocenti 2017; Chin & Trimble 2014).

Relative to the above assertion, Gelbtuch and Morlan (2016) note that “each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it and wiser than the one that comes after it” (p. 1). This statement manifests the challenge that most organisations will have to tackle in today’s workplace environment, which could be characterised by the presence of up to five generations in the workplace (Gelbtuch & Morlan 2016).

If each generation thinks of itself as smarter than their predecessors do, it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile their value predispositions to create one team to achieve organisational goals (Sharma & Bajpai 2014). The multiplicity of different generations in the workplace has been associated with a great potential for progress and employee frustrations (Duntley-Matos et al. 2017). This dichotomy of results has birthed the need to create intergenerational synergy in the workplace.

Intergenerational synergy is a concept that has been highlighted by several researchers to signify the need to bring people from different generations together (Mahadevan & Mayer 2017; de Aquino & Robertson 2017; Profili, Sammarra & Innocenti 2017; Chin & Trimble 2014; Hays-Thomas 2016; Triana 2017). Relative to this assertion, intergenerational programs often strive to educate and support different cohorts of employees to create one team to achieve organisational goals.

An increasingly growing number of ageing employees and the advent of Millennials in the workplace environment poses a problem for many organisations because of gaps in the creation of intergenerational synergy (Bolser & Gosciej 2015). In today’s age of economic uncertainty and the quest by organisations to become leaner and more efficient, organisations around the world are struggling to actively engage multigenerational leaders to address this pressing problem (Bolser & Gosciej 2015). Based on this background, this report is a research proposal to improve intergenerational synergy among employees of the Marriott group of Hotels.

Aims and Objectives of the Research

For a long time, intergenerational synergy has been studied as a human resource issue affecting teamwork or employee performance in an organisation (Chuang, Jackson & Jiang 2016). Many researchers who have investigated this issue have done so without a proper context of analysis. Furthermore, they have not effectively considered unique regional or organisational dynamics that could affect how employees communicate or even solve intergenerational conflicts.

The shreds of evidence available, which have delved into understanding intergenerational synergy have been descriptive and non-industry specific (Chuang, Jackson & Jiang 2016). Therefore, there is ambiguity regarding what strategies managers should use to promote intergenerational synergy in the workplace (Chuang, Jackson & Jiang 2016).

Particularly, there is a need to understand how to promote intergenerational synergy in the hospitality industry because it is among the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Furthermore, since it is a service-oriented business, it is increasingly important for multinational companies operating within the sector to make sure their employees meet customer needs, regardless of their personal differences or value propositions.

Atyah (2015) shares this view by saying that one of the most common characteristics of large organisations is the diversity of skills or labour. This diversity exists because such organisations have people with various characteristics, including age, gender, nationality, religion and the likes. Therefore, it is important to understand the methods for facilitating knowledge sharing in such organisations because it aids in their proper functioning. However, intergenerational learning is a poorly investigated concept, at least from an empirical point of view (Sprinkle & Urick 2018).

Research Aim

To promote intergenerational synergy among employees at the Marriott Hotel Chain. The objectives are outlined below.

1. To explore key communication strategies that could be used to promote intergenerational synergy among employees of the Marriott Hotel Chain.
2. To describe the differences in work ethic among different generations of employees at the Marriott Hotel.
3. To find out how to proactively prevent intergenerational conflicts among different employees of the Marriott Hotel.
4. To identify strategies for improving teamwork among employees of the Marriott Hotel.

The methods for promoting intergenerational synergy have been highlighted by several researchers such as Parry (2014), Byrd and Scott (2014). At the same time, the advantages of intergenerational synergy have not only been demonstrated in the business field or in studies that have focused on organisational behaviours; researchers have proven that it also portends great benefits to businesses or organisations, which are in other sectors as well.

For example, a study by McQuaid et al. (2017) showed that intergenerational synergy helped to create an increased utility of diverse forms of creative strategies. The study was developed after investigating how intergenerational communication could be used to increase civic engagement in Jinja, Uganda (McQuaid et al. 2017). The overall research proved that intergenerational synergy helped to improve the effectiveness and productivity of participant-led campaigns to share knowledge regarding environmental protection (McQuaid et al. 2017).

In line with the above views, the proposed study will be significant because Amos and Klimoski (2014) say that leaders and managers who fail to address intergenerational differences in their workplaces could suffer from several negative outcomes including low productivity, high rates of employee turnover and high levels of employee dissatisfaction. Therefore, by understanding how to improve intergenerational diversity at the Marriott Hotel chain, its managers would be better equipped to make important decisions regarding their human resource practices.

Such information would also be useful in policy formulation because the managers would similarly be better able to understand how to solve some of the inherent problems associated with the lack of intergenerational synergies, such as conflict resolution, at the hotel.

Lastly, the findings of the proposed study would expand the volume of literature regarding workplace diversity in the hospitality industry. Particularly, the information obtained from the proposed investigation would be relevant to understanding how multinational companies in the hospitality industry could better harness the potential that exists in their human resources to improve their competitive positions. These insights would also contribute towards promoting generational diversity in the workplace, as a force to propel organisational success and not a demographic liability.

The contributions of the proposed study’s findings to the fields of hospitality and accounting are partly highlighted by Sprinkle and Urick (2018) who say that improved learning will only occur in organisations where there is a targeted strategy for employee socialisation. The researchers also say that most organisations, which benefit from intergenerational diversity, have to respond well to new trends and preferences through developmental programs (Sprinkle & Urick 2018). Here, the managers of the Marriott group of hotels could leverage multiple approaches, including formal or informal initiatives, such as on-the-job training or mentorship programs to improve their performance (Sprinkle & Urick 2018).

Although the insights highlighted in this section of the report point to the need for organisations to understand the context-specific factors affecting workplace performance, the proposed study will drive the agenda of understanding why intergenerational synergy is important in professional development and management. Indeed, although employee engagement is generally an important tool for many organisations to improve their competitive positions, those operating in the hospitality industry, such as the Marriott hotel chain, are vulnerable because the industry is primarily service-driven.

Therefore, when organisational synergy is realised, employees will create a “personality” of the company, which could be used as a competitive tool. Therefore, what will be known from the proposed research is how well these strategies will work to promote collaboration across different generational cohorts at the Marriott Group of hotels.

The main motivator for undertaking the proposed study is to provide a context-specific analysis of how to promote intergenerational synergy at the hotel Chain. By using this approach, it would be easy to answer the research questions, which are centred on exploring key communication strategies for promoting intergenerational synergy, describing differences in work ethic among different generations of workers, finding out how to proactively prevent intergenerational conflicts and identifying strategies for improving teamwork among employees of the Marriott Hotel chain.

Literature Review

Differences Among Generations

Many studies suggest that generations of workers are motivated by different value systems, which cause gaps in the realisation of organisational synergy. For example, there is a belief that younger generations are not as hardworking as older ones. A study by Pyöriä et al. (2017) investigated this assumption. Using the Statistics Finland’s Quality of Work Life Survey to gather data in a longitudinal study that spanned from 1984 to 2013, the researchers asserted that there have been no major differences in how different generations value work (Pyöriä et al. 2017).

However, Pyöriä et al. (2017) pointed out that the importance of leisure and family life has increased among younger generations (Millennials). Overall, the findings suggested that older generations do not value work more than Millennials do (Pyöriä et al. 2017).

In a different study, authored by Woodward and Vongswadsi (2017), which sought to investigate differences in communication strategies among different generations, found that there was a convergence of strategies for three types of generations – baby boomers, generation X and generation Y. Their study also suggested that the generational differences are nuanced (Woodward & Vongswadsi 2017). Therefore, the overall assumption is that there is not much difference in how different generations conduct their work.

Although several researchers have pointed out that generational differences pose a significant workplace challenge in today’s global economy, some researchers have expressed their concern with this characterisation. For example, Lyons et al. (2015) say they have a problem with how some people stereotype members of a specific age group. They also say that the influences that purportedly shape a generation may not apply to any specific member of the group (Lyons et al. 2015).

In this regard, they believe that the construct of the concept of a “generation” is flawed. They further point out that if the construct of generational stereotypes were to be left as they are, it would amount to generational determinism (Lyons et al. 2015). The logic behind this argument is that certain demographics, such as birth, would determine how people behave in an organisation.

Lyons and Kuron (2014), who investigated generational differences in the workplace by analysing several variables, including personality, work values and employee attitudes, also highlight these concerns. The results showed that time lags and the effects of cross-temporal meta-analytics undermined the proof of concept that generational diversity, as an operational construct, could have on organisational productivity (Lyons & Kuron 2014).

Relative to the above arguments, researchers say that generations are not inherently monolithic and that they are more complex than the mere determinism that people who are born within a specific time should behave in a specific way (Lyons & Kuron 2014). In this regard, within each generational cohort, there are people who oppose, agree with, or are neutral about the broader generational consciousness (Lyons et al. 2015).

Causes of Conflict

Urick et al. (2016) pointed out that intergenerational conflicts were a common problem for many organisations. In line with this observation, the researchers sought to find out the nature, causes and strategies for managing conflict in the workplace. To accomplish this goal, the researchers conducted two qualitative empirical studies (Urick et al. 2016). Their findings revealed that most of the conflicts affecting the workplace were identity-based, behavioural-based and value-based.

These issues were identified after the researchers pointed out that most of the differences affecting the generations studied were based on differences in how the organisations pursued its operational strategies (Urick et al. 2016). In line with this observation, the researchers pointed out that the differences in strategies were based on whether the generations were motivated by the need to pursue achievement, satisfy their egos, or protect their images (Urick et al. 2016).

In a different study, Milligan (2016) investigated the experiences of managers and supervisors concerning managing an intergenerational workforce. Data were collected from 20 employees who worked in several retail stores around Virginia and it was established that the main cause of the intergenerational conflict was the lack of skills among management to promote intergenerational synergy (Milligan 2016). Particularly, the researchers established that poor communication was a source of weakness in the management of a multigenerational workforce (Milligan 2016).

In a study to investigate intergenerational conflict in the US airline sector, it was established that the imposition of a retirement age on older employees created conflict between younger and more experienced pilots (Fraher 2017). At the same time, Fraher (2017) also observed that the imposition of a retirement age created a competitive environment for the scarce resources in the organisations sampled. Fraher (2017) developed these findings after undertaking 43 semi-structured interviews with junior pilots and captains.

In a different study, authored by Cannon and Kendig (2018), perceptions of intergeneration conflict were assessed relative to the views of Millennials and how they understood the existence of conflict in the workplace environment. The findings suggested that most people believed that younger employees had limited opportunities for career growth and development compared to their older counterparts (Cannon & Kendig 2018).

Here, the analysis was mainly limited to comparing perceptions of intergenerational conflict between Millennials and baby boomers (Cannon & Kendig 2018). Regarding intergenerational conflict, the researchers argued that there was generally a low perception of conflict among the generations studied (Cannon & Kendig 2018). However, they also noted that younger generations were more likely to perceive the existence of intergenerational conflict compared to older workers (Cannon & Kendig 2018).

Creating Intergenerational Synergy

Based on an acknowledged need to promote intergenerational synergy in the workplace, different researchers have tried to come up with unique ways to increase collaboration among intergenerational teams. For example, in a study conducted by Bratianu and Leon (2015) to identify and analyse the main strategies used by universities to promote intergenerational synergy, it was established that these higher institutions of education use a nested organisation structure to promote intergenerational learning (Bratianu & Leon 2015).

Within this nested structure, it was also established that the organisations prefer to use mentoring, intergenerational workshops and the creation of intergenerational teams to improve the synergy of different groups of employees in the institutions (Bratianu & Leon 2015). These findings were developed after the researchers conducted interviews and surveys on students from different universities (Bratianu & Leon 2015). At the same time, data were also collected through literature search and content analysis techniques (Bratianu & Leon 2015).

Researchers have also proposed knowledge sharing as a tool for achieving employee harmony (Bricic & Mihelix 2015). Stated differently, they say the benefits of knowledge sharing can only be achieved if employees share information effectively (Bricic & Mihelix 2015). Bricic and Mihelix (2015) further draw our attention to the need to understand knowledge sharing among different generations of employees because each one of them has unique competencies.

To understand how to encourage employees to communicate effectively across the generational divide, Bricic and Mihelix (2015) analysed several individual factors – motivation, communication, collaboration and willingness. After sampling the views of 268 respondents, the researchers found that there was a positive relationship between employees’ willingness to communicate and the motivation to do so (Bricic & Mihelix 2015). The researchers also pointed out that communication and collaboration had an insignificant relationship.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework for the proposed study is the theory of generations. The theory was developed by Karl Mannheim in the late 1920s to explain generational diversity in the workplace (Muller-Schwarze 2014). The theory introduces the concept of social-historical events, which stem from common and shared historical experiences influencing people’s norms and values (Muller-Schwarze 2014). However, the theory does not assume that people’s views are homogeneous because its recognises class, cultural and regional differences as having a secondary effect on how people process historical events (Meja & Kettler 2017).

Broadly, the theory of generations presupposes that the events that happen in someone’s youth influence how they view organisational dynamics and personal relationships (Muller-Schwarze 2014). One of the main criticisms of this theory is that lacks a broader historical and cultural context (Pilcher 2017).

The theory of generations will be used to understand how intergenerational synergy can be fostered in organisations. In line with this vision, the conceptual framework will be based on the need to understand generational differences and the importance of diversity management in organisations. The concepts of diversity management and generational differences may not seem related, but they will help to highlight the nature of generational differences across different age-sets as well as how to manage each group to promote workplace diversity.

Research Gap

Most of the pieces of pieces of literature sampled in this review are largely descriptive. This finding aligns with the works of Lyons and Kuron (2014), which show that most of the literature on intergenerational synergy in the workplace published in the last five years remain largely descriptive. Therefore, there is a need to provide a focused understanding of how to promote intergenerational synergy in the workplace. Concentrating on the Marriott Group of Hotels will provide such focus. The proposed structure for the final dissertation is as follows:

• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Background to the Study
  • Research Gap
  • Research Aim and Objectives
  • Significance of Study
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
  • Research Philosophy
  • Research Methods
  • Research Design
  • Data Collection Methods
  • Sampling Criteria
  • Data Analysis Methods
• Chapter 4: Research Findings and Analysis
• Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

A list of the literatures to be read appears below.

• Al-Asfour and Lettau (2014)
• Amayah and Gedro (2014)
• Chawla, Dokadia and Rai (2017)
• Costanza and Finkelstein (2015)

Research Paradigm and Overall Approach

According to Addae and Quan-Baffour (2015), research studies often have three major dimensions: ontology, epistemology and methodology. Based on these dimensions, research paradigms are used to contextualise these dimensions by referencing an all-encompassing system of practice and thinking that is interrelated to create a comprehensive assessment of a research issue (Addae & Quan-Baffour 2015).

Antwi and Hamza (2015) classify research paradigms into three key groups: critical post-modernism, positivism and interpretivism. These three types of research paradigms are instrumental to the development of the proposed study because they are related to the qualitative research method, which will form the baseline for the execution of the research methods, which will be used to answer the research questions. The diagram below outlines their relation with the qualitative research method.

Based on figure 1 above, the main research paradigm that will guide the proposed study is the interpretive paradigm. It presupposes that people have their unique experiences about the world (Thanh & Thanh 2015). Since everybody processes their experiences uniquely, their views are also unique in the same manner (Antwi & Hamza 2015). Here, there are no right or wrong theories for understanding intergenerational synergy in the workplace; instead, the researcher will assess each construct identified in the research process based on how well they help to answer the research questions. Therefore, within this interpretive understanding of employee behaviour, knowledge and meaning will be subject to the researcher’s interpretation (Maali & Jaara 2014).

The implication of adopting this research paradigm is that an intersubjective epistemology will be adopted within the broader understanding of the reality of employees pertaining to their work experiences as socially constructed from their own experiences.

This research paradigm aligns with the nature and purpose of the proposed study, which is to promote intergenerational synergy among employees at the Marriott Hotel Chain. The research paradigm aligns with this aim because the creation of synergy among employees is a variable of how workers perceive their colleagues’ inputs. For example, the perception of generation X towards baby boomers is a construct of their views regarding what they believe motivates the Baby Boomer generation to perform well.

Similarly, the perception of the Baby Boomer generation towards Millennials is also a construct of their views regarding what motivates this generation and how they could align their views with values that promote success.

Therefore, the implication of using the interpretive research approach in the proposed study is enshrined in the fact that it would be used to understand the subjective experiences of Marriott employees towards their colleagues, from an intergenerational perspective (Kivunja & Kiyuni 2017).

Since the interpretive paradigm is subjective, it offers a boundless approach to answering the research questions, which are centred on exploring key communication strategies for promoting intergenerational synergy, describing differences in work ethic among different generations of workers, finding out how to proactively prevent intergenerational conflicts and identifying strategies for improving teamwork among employees of the Marriott Hotel chain.

Research Design

Data Collection

Data will be collected from employees of the Marriott group of hotels. Emphasis will be made to recruit senior employees of the human resource division of the company because they are more knowledgeable about employee workplace dynamics compared to other groups of professionals in the hotel. The researcher intends to interview 11 respondents through telephone interviews. Telephone interviews are selected as the preferred mode of communication because of the geographical barriers that separate the researcher from the respondents.

In addition, it would be difficult to travel to the respondents’ destinations of work to conduct the interviews. Scheduling discrepancies could pose a barrier in this regard. Therefore, telephone interviews emerge as a better way of conducting the interviews because they increase the odds of the researcher having a conversation with the respondents (Brayda & Boyce 2014; Pelzang & Hutchinson 2018).

Several researchers have highlighted the advantages of telephone interviews in collecting qualitative data, especially in conducting market research (Drabble et al. 2016; Brayda & Boyce 2014; Pelzang & Hutchinson 2018). Others compare its usefulness to innovative data collection methods used today, such as web surveys and emails (Brayda & Boyce 2014; Pelzang & Hutchinson 2018). One of the proven advantages of using telephone interviews as a data collection instrument in the proposed study is its high response rate (Grant 2017).

Similarly, since the researcher is targeting senior employees of the Marriott Hotel chain, the telephone interview technique will emerge as a tool for expediting the data collection process because the interviews can be completed quickly. Its potential to reach respondents across a wide geographical area has already been highlighted in this study and is supported by researchers, such as Liebenberg (2018) and Grant (2017).

The greatest limitation of this data collection method is that the questions posed to the respondents cannot be too succinct to the extent that the respondents deem them complex (Barwin et al. 2015). There is also a widespread aversion to telephone calls as a data collection method because of telemarketers. However, this limitation will be overcome with the sampling strategy highlighted below.

Sampling Strategy

The snowball sampling technique will be used to recruit the respondents. According to TenHouten (2017) and Taherdoost (2016), the snowball sampling technique is a non-probability sampling method, which allows researchers to recruit their respondents from the acquaintances of the initial respondents. This type of sampling procedure is ordinarily used to get data from “hidden” populations (TenHouten 2017; Taherdoost 2016).

The difficulty of getting access to senior employees of the Marriott hotel manifests such a challenge because it would be difficult to contact them without prior knowledge of their schedules or activities. Therefore, the ability to locate “hidden” populations is one advantage of the snowball sampling method and it will be beneficial to the researcher because it would allow for the inclusion of respondents who would have otherwise been unreachable in the study (Naderifar, Goli & Ghaljaie 2017).

Another justification for using this sampling method is its ability to locate respondents who have specific knowledge (Kirchherr & Charles 2018). The research questions that will be investigated in this study require respondents who have a specific set of knowledge, skills and understanding about intergenerational workplace behaviours at the Marriott Hotel. The snowball sampling method will be employed to target this population.

The greatest criticism of this sampling method is the huge impact that the first few respondents interviewed will have on the quality of information (Kirchherr & Charles 2018). Stated differently, the quality of participants who will take part in the study will be largely influenced by the type of initial respondents contacted. Therefore, the researcher will only contact reliable members of staff. Nonetheless, the snowball sampling method is selected for the proposed study because of its immense benefits to the collection of reliable data from skilled employees (Marcus et al. 2017).

Nature of Data to Be Collected

The data that will be collected in the proposed study will be qualitative in nature. This type of data will be sourced from the respondents because, as mentioned in earlier sections of this study, the interview method will be used as the main data collection instrument. The qualitative data will be subjective in nature and they will align with the interpretive paradigm highlighted in earlier sections of this report. To recap, the interpretive paradigm allows researchers to develop their unique understanding of the data collected, relative to the individual perspectives of the respondents sampled (Fraser 2014). Thus, the qualitative data that will be collected in the study will represent the views of the respondents sampled.

Since the data collection process will be done over the phone, no physical observations will be made in the study. However, the respondents’ tone of engagement will be noted to review key areas of emphasis that need to be highlighted at the end of the study. The questions that the respondents will be designed to answer the research questions and fulfil the overall research aim of the study.

To recap, the research questions will centre on exploring key communication strategies for promoting intergenerational synergy, describing differences in work ethic among different generations of workers, finding out how to proactively prevent intergenerational conflicts and identifying strategies for improving teamwork among employees of the Marriott hotel chain. The research questions for the respondents will follow an interview protocol that is highlighted in the appendix section (see appendix 1)

Data Analysis

As highlighted in earlier sections of this paper, the researcher will collect qualitative data from the respondents. This data will be analysed using the thematic and coding methods. As its name suggests, thematic analysis technique will be used to assess the data based on the emergence of unique themes of analysis. These themes would later be used to analyse aspects of the research topic, including providing the insights needed to make definitive conclusions about the research questions. As opposed to only summarising the information presented in the research, the thematic analysis method would be used to make sense of the information provided by the respondents.

The thematic technique involves the identification of unique themes in the study and coding them using numerical methods (Cassol et al. 2018). Broadly, the thematic and coding method follows six key steps, which are familiarisation with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining themes and writing up the final research report (Maguire & Delahunt 2017). The thematic and coding method will be used in the proposed study because it has been extensively and successfully used to analyse data that was collected using interviews. Researchers such as Wang, Wang and Khalil (2018) have demonstrated its efficacy in this regard.

The thematic analysis method will provide the support needed to implement the conceptual framework for the proposed study, which is the interpretive paradigm. In other words, by using the interpretive paradigm, the researcher will have different interpretations of the research issues and more specifically how the management of the Marriott group of hotels could promote intergenerational synergy in the workplace.

These interpretations will be organised into different themes that would help to answer the research questions. In other words, the researcher will categorise the findings obtained from the respondents into four unique themes that focus on answering the four research questions. The implication of adopting this strategy is that the data, which will be collected from the respondents, will be better aligned with the research questions. Furthermore, the data analysis method chosen for the study will be better focused on the research aim, thereby making sure the information obtained always stays on topic.

Access and Research Ethics

The use of human subjects in research often attracts several ethical issues that researchers have to consider in the management of data and the treatment of respondents. In line with this view, Sanjari et al. (2014) say that in many qualitative research studies, ethical issues often emerge because of the implications of the researcher interacting with the respondents face-to-face. The ethical issues that will emerge in the study are addressed below.

Informed Consent: According to Abubakar et al. (2016), it is imperative for all researchers who use human subjects to seek voluntary informed consent. Similarly, it is important to get this consent because researchers should protect and respect the rights of the informants to participate in the study (Sanjari et al. 2014). All the respondents that will take part in the review will do so voluntarily. In other words, the researcher will provide a voluntary agreement to participate in the study.

In line with this vision, the participants will be furnished with important details pertaining to the investigation, including what it is about, areas of focus, procedures to be undertaken and the purpose for carrying out the research. Therefore, none of the respondents will be coerced or paid to participate in the study. The informants will also be notified that they could withdraw from the investigation without any repercussions.

Treatment of Data: Nowell et al. (2017) posit that the foundation of modern-day science is trust. All the interview transcripts that will be generated from the study will be stored safely in a computer and secured with a password. The implication of adopting this strategy is to minimise the possibility of data manipulation by third parties. Another goal of embracing this strategy is to protect the data from theft or the “leakage” of confidential information relating to the research participants. In line with this vision, after completion of the study, the information will be destroyed.

Anonymity and Confidentiality: Sanjari et al. (2014) say that anonymity and confidentiality are important tenets to the completion of ethical research studies. The information that will be presented in the final report will not reveal the identity of the respondents. In other words, the informants will be notified that the information they provide in the study will not be traced back to them. The aim of doing so is to allow the research participants to speak frankly without feeling that there will be repercussions to sharing their views about the research topic.

Potential Outcomes

As highlighted in this paper, the research questions for the respondents will focus on exploring key communication strategies for promoting intergenerational synergy, describing differences in work ethic among different generations of workers, finding out how to proactively prevent intergenerational conflicts and identifying strategies for improving teamwork among employees of the Marriott hotel chain.

Based on the findings of the literature review highlighted in this proposal, the researcher expects that there would be significant differences in beliefs and values among the Baby Boomer generation and Millennials. Millennials are expected to be working in lower level positions of Marriott Hotel and employees who are in the Baby Boomer generation are expected to be holding senior positions. Based on their differences in work attitudes and behaviours, a generational divide between these two groups could emerge.

Since promoting intergenerational synergy will be a core part of the research proposal, the role of communication is expected to be elevated because effective communication has been highlighted as one of the key strategies for promoting group cohesion in a multigenerational work environment (Paterno 2016). The researcher expects that the role of management in promoting intergenerational synergy will manifest as an important driver for organisational change that will be based on the presumption that a strong and cohesive team is central to the realisation of organisational goals.

Timetable

The proposed research is expected to be completed in 14 weeks. Within this time, it is expected that seven stages would be completed: refining research objectives, literature, methodology, research design, collecting primary data, analysing the data, discussing the findings and writing the final report. The Gantt chart below explains how these key research processes will be distributed across a 14-week research period.

According to figure 2 above, the most time-consuming process of the research is implementing the methodology. This stage takes a bulk of the time because the researcher will have to make sure that each aspect of the methodology is operationalised and aligned with the aim and objectives of the research to provide a coherent understanding of the project objectives.

The length of time allocated to the completion of this stage is also long because, within this stage of the research, the researcher will arrange to interview the respondents. Since the availability of some of the respondents may be limited, the maximum time is allocated to this stage of data collection.

The process of refining the objectives of the study takes the least time in the research project because this process is already complete and pending institutional approval. A review of the literature is also allocated a short time because this process was partly completed during the process of developing this research proposal. The collection of primary data is allocated two weeks because, as highlighted in earlier sections of this document, telephone interviews are a relatively fast way of data collection. Therefore, it is not anticipated that the data collection process will take a long time.

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Introduction

The time when companies operated only on the local markets has passed. Today is the age of international corporations, which involve thousands of people around the world and include numerous affiliates in different countries. Such companies are giants in the markets where they operate and expansion of the new market becomes possible for them, or even essential in case of their intensive growth and extension.

Today many international enterprises conclude, that it is important to take advantage of the markets situated in less developed countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. The level of development of these countries is not necessarily connected with the attractiveness of its market. So, this is a wise decision to expand to these countries and try to become the leader in it after a while.

Marriott and the market of Kenya

Marriott, the world’s well-known company, is an example of such a company, which has ambitious plans to enter the market of Kenya and in some time gain a large share of this market. (Field, 1996).

So, it is essential to analyze the current economic situation in Kenya, its peculiarities of the conditions, to forecast the chances of Marriott becoming the leading company in this country. On the other hand, it is also important to conduct deep and thorough analyses of the company, its internal and external environment, which will certainly affect the overall performance of Marriott in the perspective market of Kenya. In the end, it is essential to conduct a forecast on the opportunities and threats for Marriott in Kenya.

The current economic situation in Kenya

So, Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic with the President, who is the head of the country and the government and who is chosen in the process of free and democratic elections. International observers in Kenya highlight that after 2002, when the coalition of different parties has won the elections, Kenya is on the steady democratic way of development. The government of Mwai Kibaki aimed to focus on the future economic stability and growth, on the improving amendments to the constitution, and struggle against corruption and poverty. So, overall the government is working on the advancement of the country’s welfare and stability, which is a very positive tendency for all companies in Kenya.

The administrative division of the Kenya

It is also important to analyze the administrative division of the country. Kenya consists of eight provinces, and there is a Provincial Commissioner in charge of every province. Moreover, these provinces are divided into smaller districts, and then into divisions, also called Tarifa. The city of Nairobi is a perspective market for many companies since it has gained the status of the full administrative province.

Kenya is an exotic country with rich wildlife, including such animals, like lions, elephants, buffalos, and leopards, also a great variety of birds and reptiles. There are many national parks and reserves, which preserve the wildlife and the landscapes. SO, overall Kenya is a perfect place for tourists who like hot weather and safari adventures.

In terms of the economic development of the country, the government of Kenya promotes the development of stagnating agriculture, encourages public investments in the developing industries. The assistance of such global financial organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank helps Kenya on the way to financial stability. Kenya’s government’s focus today is on the anti-corruption measures and the adoption of the laws and judicial procedures which will ensure the transparency and profitability of the economy.

The exports of Kenya are approximately 2 billion dollars, including such products, as tea and coffee, various petroleum goods, cement, pyrethrum, and oil. In fact, in 2006 an oil exploration contract was signed between Kenya and China because China is interested in discovering significant sources of oil in Kenya and then transporting the black gold into its booming economy. Furthermore, Kenya’s most profitable markets are Uganda, Tanzania, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States of America. The imported quantity of products is higher than the quantity exported; the most popular imported goods are vehicles, iron materials, paper products, and wheat. (Throup, 1998).

So, overall, the level of development of Kenya in all spheres of the industry is high enough, and this market contains many benefits and opportunities for Marriott.

Researching the environment of Marriott

Moving on to the next section of researching the environment of Marriott, it is important to analyze its performance to ascertain its chances in the market of Kenya.

Marriott is an international company, which is one of the global leaders in the hotel market. Marriott is also called an international hotelier, due to the variety of hotels, lodgings and services, and even products provided. (Townes, 2005).

Marriott involves more than 200 000 employees around the world, who join their efforts on the way of the profitable future of the empire of Marriott. (Marriott, 1996) According to the statement of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer J.W. Marriott Jr – one of the main assets of the company is its employees, and this is one of the reasons why the company takes care of the well-being of the employees, awarding them through various development programs. (Marriott, 1997).

It was reported, that the net income of Marriott has increased and made up more than two hundred forty-seven million dollars; the stock price of the hotel giant has risen 36 percent this year. So, the stakeholders of the company are also satisfied with the results of their investments. ( Allerton, 2002).

Marriott has already received wide access to numerous markets in the world, such as the United States of America, Eastern Europe, Latin America, China, and Russia. According to the article, Marriott operates today in more than fifty countries around the world. (“Business Asia”, 1999).

The Chief Executive Officer J.W. Marriott believes that Marriott International Inc. should expand further to the new markets, like Central America, South America, and Africa. Moreover, globalization is a positive process, which stimulates the growth of tourism at the rate of four to six percent per year, involving new customers, who use the service of this international group. (Marriott, 1997).

An executive summary for Marriott in the market of Kenya

These two analyses should be used to write an executive summary for Marriott in the new market of Kenya.

First of all, the service which is offered by Marriott company will be in demand in Kenya. Though Kenya is not a rich country, where the level of people living in the poverty is still very high, the tendency of globalization, which brings new tourists to Kenya, is one of the main encouraging factors for Marriott. Tourists from such developed countries, like the United States of America or Western Europe, will be able to pay for the hotel and will be satisfied with the premium level of service in Marriott hotels.

So, the target audience for Marriott in Kenya should be tourists and representatives from the high-paid class of Kenya. Customers should receive all standard services, which are offered in other Marriott hotels, at the standard price. On the other hand, the premium or VIP rooms should be also available at a much higher price, in order not to lose such clients.

It is also important to conduct SWOT analyses to ascertain all possible strengths and weaknesses of the company in this market, potential opportunities, and threats there.

The undeniable strength of Marriott International Inc. is its well-organized structure and orientation on the consumers. This company has many years of experience of being in the market of hotel service, which will help it overcome all first-time difficulties and drawbacks. One more strength of this group is its worldwide fame and vast group of loyal customers, who are willing to pay more for the premium quality and are looking for their favorite chain of hotels in the country they are visiting.

Despite the numerous advantages of this company, there are certain weaknesses, which might become significant obstacles. For example, this is the great number of hotels in different countries, which makes the process of management rather complicated. The tendency of expanding to the new markets increases the income of the company; however it can lead to the fact, that some important internal problems will be overseen. The increasing quantity of hotels may not necessarily lead to the prosperity of the company but may make its operations much more complicated.

Marriott has a great variety of opportunities in this market, like gaining a major part of a share of the market, then becoming the leader in this industry, and providing more service at lower prices for the less affluent population of Kenya. On the other hand, there is a threat that Marriott will face intensive competition from the companies, already existing in this industry and willing to give up their share of the market. There can be another threat, that Marriott will be accused of the size of the hotel market in Kenya and being a foreign monopolist. To avoid this problem, Marriott should be positioned as the company, which activities are based on the promotion of the wellbeing of the region where it is operating. This statement should be supported by the programs of Kenya’s welfare advancement, like a struggle against unemployment in this country by employing local people or investing in the development of agriculture and many other programs.

Using the tool of five Porter’s forces, which helps determine the overall attractiveness of the market, it is essential to ascertain the impact of different forces on the performance of Marriott. The market growth is relatively high due to globalization; the customer power is not very significant, because they are ready to pay extra money for the high-quality service in the hotel. The entry barriers in this market are also quite high due to a large amount of investment, which should be used to enter the market. This chain of hotels will be positioned as an expensive, but perfect place for the tourist and guests, who want to enjoy the same level of comfort as in their home countries. Summarizing the influence of all these forces, it can be concluded that the market of Kenya is attractive enough and Marriott should enter this market.

To give the final answer to the question of should Marriott expand to the new market of Kenya or not, there should be macroeconomic forces studied. The economic situation of Kenya should not be an obstacle to the launch of the new chain of hotels. The political situation is rather stable and if Marriott conducts social responsibility programs the government will support the activities of this company. Marriott is a company that always adopts innovation and applies new technologies, so this company will promote the application of innovations in Kenya. Such factors as the nature and geography of the country should only contribute to the profitability of the company, as there are many national parks with rich wildlife. So, this factor should be taken advantage of, and excursions to the parks or safari should be organized for tourists.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded, that Marriott should expand to the market of Kenya. After the deep analysis of the forces and factors, which might influent the performance of the company, it can be said that despite the fierce competition and local peculiarities, Marriott is going to succeed in this new market and after some time can become the leader of providing hotel services in one more country. Marriott is ready to face all unexpected problems and though the investments in this project might be higher than expected, it is still worth expanding and establishing a new level of service and innovation in Kenya.

References

Allerton, H. E. (2002, July). A Cool Learning Space: Design Conveys Vision at the Center for Association Leadership’s New Marriott Learning Complex. T&D, 56, 36.

Field, D. (1996). Bill Marriott Offers Rooms with a View – of the Future. Insight on the News, 12, 38.

Marriott, A. (1996). Marriott Looks South in Bid to Double Size. The Washington Times, p. 11.

Marriott, A. (1997). A Deluge of Deals: Marriott Purchase Widens Its World Reach. The Washington Times, p. 7.

Marriott, A. (1997). J.W. Marriott Jr. Caring for Employees Helps Marriott Create an Empire. The Washington Times, p. 8.

Marriott Seeks Taiwan Hotel Deal. (1999). Business Asia, 7, 18.

Throup, D. W., & Hornsby, C. (1998). Multi-Party Politics in Kenya: The Kenyatta & Moi States & the Triumph of the System in the 1992 Election. Oxford: James Currey.

Townes, G. (2005). Marriott Hotels: The International Hotel Chain Is Committing $1 Billion to Attract More Minority Partners. Black Enterprise, 36, 58.

Description of the Breach

Marriott International is an American global diversified hospitality enterprise that administers and franchises a wide range of hotels and associated residential facilities and incorporates many well-known hotel brands, including Sheraton and W Hotels. The Marriott-Starwood data breach, which occurred from 2014 to 2018, declared that the personal data of about 500 million of their customers was corrupted. Data breaches are a serious issue to consider that leads to financial and sensitive data loss, as well as jeopardizes customers’ privacy and essential information infrastructure.

Abuse Techniques

The unauthorized access to customers’ data was processed in 2014. The situation was compounded by the fact that the data hacking or unauthorized taking of personal information was fully revealed only after four years of its beginning. Furthermore, it was not entirely clear what type of personal information was compromised, which means that those affected may be open to different forms of identity fraud.

Considering the data-dependent nature of the tourism industry, hotels, airlines, and other corporations contain personal customer information as a “convenience to guests and as a way of being more efficient” (Tarlow 2). This implies keeping clients’ credit card numbers on file, as well as using passports and driver’s licenses as evidence of personal identity. Therefore, the Marriott-Starwood data breach functions as a caution for the overall tourism sector.

Damages

The breach was announced in November 2018 and included compromised guests’ names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and emails, SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) account information, as well as arrival and departure information, and reservation data. The breach corrupted even highly important personal information, such as passport number, birth dates, gender, and communication preferences. Moreover, for some people, the data affected involved encrypted payment card numbers and payment card termination dates.

Consequences

When a customer’s trust is being undermined, then the long-term outcomes of the tourism industry might become fatal. This implies the case when one is no longer confident that his or her personal information is safe and can be accessed only by a limited number of personnel. As described by Tarlow, this unfortunate breach of the Marriott hotel Starwood brand database, which led to the loss of personal records by nearly 500 million people, “serves as another example that the world of tourism security is fast-changing” (2).

Taking into account the instability of cybersecurity, there are two critical issues, such as maintaining privacy for personal information and the travel and tourism industry measures in case of a data breach. Even though the tourism and travel industry significantly invested time and money in cybersecurity, there is no guarantee for complete data privacy at present. The absence of total security in the physical world promotes an identical situation in the cyber world. The cybersecurity concerns are as crucial as the ones of cyber crisis management, which is a vital aspect in controlling customers’ confidence and loyalty.

Remedies

According to Ayaburi et al., following the reservation system breach, the Marriot hotel chain provided its guests with fraud-detecting service, a defense technology that pursued ensuring security guarantees for its customer base. In addition, Fox reported that the company established a dedicated help website for the victims and also operated a free helpline (par. 18). Tarlow developed several suggestions on cyber crisis management, such as having a plan, telling the truth, working to rebuild confidence, and revealing the helping measures (4). Other suggestions include providing information about data protection to travelers and good salaries for the security workers.

Works Cited

Ayaburi, Emmanuel W. et al. “Post Data Breach Use of Protective Technologies: An Examination of Users’ Dilemma.” HICSS, Proceedings of the 53Rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 7 January 2020, pp. 4247–4255.

Fox, Chris. “Marriott Hack Hits 500 Million Guests“. BBC News, 2018. Web.

Tarlow, Peter. “The Human Side of Cyber Security Breaches.” International Journal of Safety and Security in Tourism/Hospitality, vol. 16, 2017, pp. 1–5.

When marketing to LGBTQ+ consumers is concerned, the opinions regarding the best strategies tend to diversify. Firstly, there is a view that if an LGBTQ+ traveler appreciates some features of a hotel they stop at, it is likely that other people would appreciate that as well (Anders 45). At the baseline of another perspective lies a supposition that LGBTQ+ persons, especially couples, are more vulnerable when planning their holidays due to a high probability of coming-outs they will be forced to make as they travel (Johnson 86). Marriot’s LGBTQ+ campaigns have eliminated most of the difficulties connected with brand awareness among such audience (“LGBT Tourism Demographic Profile,” par. 6). Considering that the Marriott brand is known and renowned on the Web as a gay-friendly hotel brand, Rayong Marriott hotel is unlikely to experience awareness difficulties (“Gay-Friendly Hotels,” n.pag.). On the other hand, the competition rates run high. The SWOT analysis below is to illustrate the advantages and potential hazards that Rayong Marriott can possibly undergo.

As is the case with any marketing, the ways to promote a hotel are plentiful. In the case of Rayong Marriott, the root of the problem seems to be the lack of awareness. Considering the wide popularity of the brand, the difficulties with awareness raising will probably be minor. On the other hand, it only takes to google “gay-friendly hotels in Rayong” to acknowledge that the awareness and competition issues are tangible.

One of the strategies, as it has been enlisted, is to cooperate with gay-friendly tourism firms. The Marriott brand is enlisted on the majority of gay tourism portals, which cannot be said in relation to Rayong hotel. Cooperation with major tour operators would increase awareness immensely and give the hotel the opportunity to welcome LGBTQ+ visitors from all over the world.

One of the most optimal marketing strategies, at that, can be summarized as showing commitment. It is worth considering that, although Thailand is widely considered a destination friendly to LGBTQ+, the Thai population does not seem to welcome gender and sexual non-conformity as readily as tourism business (Thanthong-Knight par. 5). By showing commitment – and being committed – the hotel could attract both foreign and local customers. Such goals can be achieved through advertising that appeals directly to LGBTQ+ audience. To produce quality advertisements, outsourcing and LGBTQ+ exposition attendance might be needed since the target audience can easily detect whether the advert’s messages are genuinely concerned with them or not.

Finally, and in relation to being committed to the LGBTQ+ community, is showing support to the local LGBTQ+ community. The brand itself and Rayong Marriott in particular, can get involved with groups to get a fuller understanding of LGBTQ+ issues and preferences. Besides, it could sponsor LGBTQ+-related activities in Rayong, e.g., festivals, concerts, performances, and so forth. Another step forward would be to host such activities since the hotel possesses excellent facilities and is located to the advantage of performance hosting. Furthermore, the account of such events can be given via the hotel’s website. In this way, both the brand and the hotel can benefit: the Marriott brand would receive further recognition and the Rayong hotel would tackle its awareness issues. The benefit would be, in fact, threefold. In addition to the brand’s and hotel’s position, the local LGBTQ+ community would receive support and be enabled to draw public attention to their issues. Also, LGBTQ+ tourists and couples would regard Rayong Marriott as a holiday option and support it in return.

To conclude, the hotel would have to invest in advertising, provide more information on the website, and get committed to the LGBTQ+ community to attract this cluster of consumers locally. Considering the popularity of the brand and its investments in LGBTQ+ campaigns, increasing awareness for Rayong Mariott hotel is not an issue of extreme complexity on the global scale.

Works Cited

Anders, Helen. “Gay Travel Guru on a Mission.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2013: 45. Print.

“Gay-Friendly Hotels.” Gaytravel.com. Gaytravel.com, 2016. Web.

Johnson, Ian. “The $180-billion dollar question “How is a gay traveller different to any other traveller?”” WTM Business 2013: 85-87. Print.

“LGBT Tourism Demographic Profile.” CMI Community Marketing & Insights. Community Marketing, Inc., 2016. Web.

“Rayong Marriott Resort & Spa.” Marriott. Marriott International, Inc., n.d. Web.

Thanthong-Knight, Siraphob. “The bitter truth behind Thailand’s gay-friendly image.” Deutsche Presse Agentur. CRM Nation Group.

Bath products refer to a number of luxury hygiene and self-care items produced by Marriott. Items can vary from specific healthcare sets to kimono robes, which illustrates the diversity of products offered by the firm (Marriott, n.d.). Many of the items present within Marriott hotels are considered luxurious and high-priced, especially when compared to similar products offered by other retailers. The audience for such products is likely more affluent clients that prefer Marriott products to both affordable and other luxury brands. The target demographic does not rely much on gender-specific features and is more likely persuaded by their loyalty to the brand and age. Essentially, the inherent target audience of Marriott is also likely to be interested in the products of the Bath line.

Because the audiences that select Marriott as a hotel may also be interested in the Bath line products, there can be benefits in advertising through the hotels themselves. This can be done by placing information and links regarding the Bath shop inside hotel rooms, on room keys, the booking information, and on the website. The clients of the Bath shop require products that are of high quality and potentially luxurious. Additionally, they need these items to be familiar with and ones they have enjoyed at the Marriott hotels themselves. As such, the Bath shop has identified this need of the clients, which may be directed at a very niche demand but also has the potential to be highly profitable. However, clients may be discouraged by the invasiveness of the advertisements in the case that they are not interested in Marriot-branded products. As such, it is essential for the marketing strategy to target outlets that only the interested demographic is likely to see. This may include the hotel website or the stores within the hotel. In conclusion, the high-end products of the Bath line enjoy profitability primarily due to customer loyalty and the status of high quality and luxury. Further promotion can be achieved through non-invasive information leaflets or web pages for customers interested in owning Bath products.

Reference

Marriott. (n.d.). Bath. Shop Marriott. Web.

With a variety of famous and magnificent hotels and resorts, Marriot International is the favoured retreat and business destination for most people. Here, guests are treated with flexible booking options, an outstanding care, and varied destinations in an exceptional sumptuous surrounding.

Marriot International is among the largest international operators in hotels and cottage amenities. It was established in 1927 by J. Marriot in Washington D.C. Initially, Marriot together with his wife started out with a root beer tavern not knowing that it would expand and become an international retreat centre.

The tavern then increased into a series of restaurant s and pubs. In 1959, Marriott established the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington, which then was then the best operating hotel ever established. It incorporated 3100 properties. Currently, the company possesses more than 3000 lodging facilities in the United states of America and other 500 lodging facilities distributed all over the world.

Marriot’s son, who is the current CEO, spearheaded this growth. In the year 1992, the company divided into Marriot International and Host Marriot corp. It was not until 2002, when the company restructured. Marriot International then centred on hotel management.

Towards May 1995, the company purchased 50% interest in Carlton Hotel Company intended at generating additional sales and profits. The following year, Marriott international fully owned Carlton and took over its management. As a result, Marriot financed Carlton into a profitable business and assisted them with their expertise. During this period, Carlton regained its power and recognition in the market.

Despite its tremendous success, Marriott has suffered tremendous setbacks. In 2001, during the 9/11 attacks, Marriott World Trade Centre was destroyed and subsequently in 2003 the Marriott hotel bombing occurred. These two attacks caused a significant decline in the number of bookings, and a reduction in the profit margins in the year 2001 and 2003.

By the year 2004, Marriott became the first hotel to serve free Trans fats food in the US. Two years later, the company affirmed that it was going to ban smoking in all its lodging properties in North America. This ban affected all guest rooms, lounges, and public facilities in the company.

In the year 2011, the company announced that they aimed at establishing 600 hotels before the year 2015 and that they were going to prioritize on the growing economies like China and India. At the beginning of this year, Marriott began the construction of the tallest hotel in the globe. The hotel is situated in United Arab Emirates and it comprises over 2000 rooms. In addition, it occupies an area of 5000 square metres.

Constantly, Marriott has offered interns and college graduates the best opportunities vital to the growth of their future careers. These opportunities vary from part time to full time and from one country to another. With respect to the interns, they will be exposed to diverse disciplines at the company.

Marriott’s brands consist of distinctive guest experience hence students are offered the opportunity to nurture their career as they apply the theoretical knowledge learned in class. Through this, students gain experience on how to handle various roles when they start to work.

Regarding the management programs, students are equipped with management skills and given an opportunity to explore their talents through various activities in the workplace. Mostly, Students are encouraged to concentrate in the areas that they are gifted for effective outcomes. These areas include accounting, food and beverages, room operations, spa services and sales and marketing.

Marriott offers various opportunities to graduates across all disciplines. The company offers several posts in the treasury and corporate finance departments to graduates specialized in accounting and finance. Regarding the food and beverages specialist, Marriott offers a variety of skills in management and supervision. An individual can work in various scenarios such as serving individuals or large groups.

With respect to information technology experts, Marriott offers numerous opportunities since advancement in Information technology has enabled it to remain operational and deliver the best services to its customers on vacations. Therefore, not only will they be paid well, but also they will be presented with several opportunities to enhance their career.

There are numerous benefits of Marriott enjoyed by the guests and employees. First, employees are given an opportunity to work in the best hospitality company in the world. In addition, the company acknowledges every individual’s effort by rewarding hardworking employee. These rewards include access to expensive rooms, foods, and beverages at Marriott locations all over the world.

Concerning its guest, the company ensures that they are given the best services such as flexible booking options and varied resorts and destinations. With the advancement of technology, booking for an accommodation at Marriott has become significantly simplified. The company uses the most current software compared with other hospitality companies in the world.

Through this software, guests’ information is stored making it readily accessible when necessary. Marriott’s varied resorts and destination means that guests are presented with a variety of options to choose from. Therefore, one can visit several destinations while enjoying the same outstanding services.

Many countries, especially the developing ones, depend on hospitality industries as their main source of revenue. In this regard, Marriott has proved to be the best revenue earner to the countries in which it is situated while employing a majority of the population.

Introduction

Marriott international hotel was started in the year 1957 by its founder J.M Marriott. Marriott international hotel has spread all over the world with over 65 countries and boast of over 20 billion dollar in sales. The mission of the hotel is to offer quality services to its customers without discrimination.

Customer service

One of the key areas that Marriott international hotel specializes in is to offer quality customer services in order to be ahead of its competitors. For any hotel to be able to thrive in the field of hospitality, it must be in a position to offer the best services to its customers at any given time. Customer interests must be placed in the first line by training all the workers who in turn will offer quality services to the customers according to the set standards.

According to Mr. Gordon Lambourne, the Vice- President Marketing Public Relations, he emphasize that, for the hotel to survive in this field of hospitality, they must ensure their hotels are designed in a way that will meet all the needs of customers from various parts of the world. Under this initiative Marriot international hotel has built hotels with extended stay categories such as Marriott Execu-stay to cater for diplomats and executives who pay visit or have diplomatic meetings.

The hotel also has Marriott vacation club to offer services to various customers having vocational tours, Marriott time share properties and Ritz-Carlton to cater for business and other customer needs. Each section has its own distinct and personality style to serve its customers and ensure that each customer is satisfied by the services offered. Each hotel under Marriott international hotel shares the same identity brand, which has enabled the hotels to thrive all over the world and stay focused in maintaining quality services to their customers. In each hotel the hostess and other workers are given mandate to maintain the values and standard services set by the hotel at any given time.

Communication

This is another area that Marriott international hotel has capitalized in so as to ensure that it stays ahead of its competitors. Communication is a key section in any business working towards its success. Marriott international has ensured that it maintains the best communication system by ensuring all customers are served according to the language that they understand well. The chain of communication is simplified to ensure customers and hostesses have better communication channels.

This ensure that customers can book hotel rooms when they are still in their own country and find a well organized place according to their request. Good communication channel ensure that customers are served at the right time without any delay or causing any inconveniences. The management has ensured customer are able to book for rooms in various sections at any given time, the communication system is well organized to ensure that there is no confusion and customers are served by attendants who understand their languages.

Customer feedback

Customer feedback is another key area in which Marriott international relies on to assist in improving the quality of services it offers to its customers. According to the marketing public relation vice-president, he insists that feedbacks given by customers have enabled Marriott international hotel to stay in focus and develop its services to a higher level where customers feel satisfied. He further suggests that both positive and negative feedback plays a major role in developing and expanding the services offered to customers (Marriott Commercial 5).

For business to compete effectively with its competitors it has to observe at least three key features as explained by Mr. Gordon Lambourne the vice- president of Marriott international hotel. The three key features include customer services, communication and feedback. The three features should be treated with a lot of concern as they determine the success of the business.

Work Cited

Marriott Commercial. Marriott commercial video. Web.

Abstract

Part-time employment has been increasing very fast for the last two decades, particularly in the service sector such as hospitality. Many researchers have argued that there are many benefits associated with part-time employment for both organizations and workers. However, hospitality industry in most countries has experienced comparatively high level of staff turnover that has resulted to increased costs for businesses. The most significant factor contributing to this turnover rate is the level of organizational commitment among employees of these organizations. This paper uses data from the study of Marriott International-a five star hotel in Hong Kong to study the level of commitment among part-time and full-time employees in the hospitality industry. The study established that part-time employees were relatively less satisfied than full-time employees and had lower level of commitment. The case study used numerous methods of data collection and analysis including questionnaires, interviews, and three-dimensional Organizational Commitment Scale. The study results show that lower level of commitment among the part-time workers is the reason for increased cases of staff turnover in the hospitality industry.

Introduction

There are numerous definitions relating to work commitment. This is because many studies have established relations between work commitment to attitude and behaviors in the places of work (Stredwick, 2005, p. 3). According to Meyer and Allen (1997) the basis for studying work commitment is related to workers behavior and performance efficiency, attitudinal/effective and perception construct for instance job satisfaction, attribute and roles of an employee’s job and individual traits of an employee (Meyer and Allen, 1997, p. 6). Bateman and Strasser (1984) assert that work commitment is multi-dimensional in nature encompassing workers loyalty, their willingness to put more effort on behalf of the organization, sticking to values of the organization and desire to remain in the organization. They also identified commitment related attitudes and behaviors.

Work commitment is nowadays considered as one of the most important and controversial element in human resource management (Riley, 2000, p. 5). According to Stredwick (2005) the subject of work commitment is mostly linked to work values, work motivation and work involvement. The problem of work commitment in relation to full-time and part-time working has not been fully explored and therefore requires detailed studying and analysis. This study aims at bridging this gap by adding some more significant information to the subject.

The general and basic information on the problem of work commitment as a part of job involvement and work effectiveness is given in the study by Miller et al. (2002). The authors provide the aspects of general management theory and key principles to hospitality organizations (Miller et al., 2002, p.4). The thorough analysis of the problem requires the studying of contemporary theories on the question. Huczynski and Buchanan (2007, pp. 3-5) offer a comprehensive analysis of modern theories on central human resources activities. The work by Bratton and Gold (2007, p.13) gives views on a new discussion on workplace wellness and ethics in human resources management.

The study of the problem of the level of work commitment between full-time and part-time employees covers a wide range of additional aspects. As a result, Tesone (2008) illustrates a number of theories on the subject in his work. “When employees have a high degree of consensus and commitment to the firm’s objectives, and as a collective, are capable of learning and growing them; the firm may be more agile and adaptable to the changes it faces during its lifecycle” (Tesone, 2008, p.8). Moreover, “internal commitment occurs when employees are committed to a particular project, person or program for their individual reasons or motivations” (Tesone, 2008, p. 283). To define the problem more specifically, Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (2003) among the range of issues also focus on the questions of ethics, leadership and work commitment of part-time and full-time employees in the employment relations. They assert that part-time work is becoming more popular despite of its controversial work arrangements (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2003, p. 167).

Statement of the Problem

Casual employment has been increasing very fast for the last two decades, particularly in the service sector such as hospitality. Many researchers have argued that there are many benefits associated with part-time employment for both organizations and workers. However, hospitality industry in most countries has experienced comparatively high level of staff turnover that has resulted to increased costs for businesses. The most significant factor contributing to this turnover rate is the level of organizational commitment among employees of these organizations. This paper explores work commitment and satisfaction among the part-time and full-time employees at Marriott International-a five star hotel in Hong Kong. The study will use a number of data collection and analysis methods to achieve its objectives. These techniques used include use of questionnaires, interviews, and three-dimensional Organizational Commitment Scale.

The Aim and Objective of the Study

The main aim of the paper is to objectively study, analyze and compare the work commitment level between full-time workers and part-time workers within the Marriott Hotels based in Hong Kong.

The following objectives were determined to achieve the aim of the paper:

• To critically appraise the theories relating to work commitment and factors affecting the level of commitment within the hotel industry.
• To evaluate how these factors are affecting the level of commitment within the workplace.
• To analyze and compare the work commitment level between full-time and part-time workers.

Hypotheses

• H1: Work Status affects the level of employees’ commitment in an organization.
• H2: Job motivation and satisfaction have a positive impact on organizational commitment.
• H3: Organizational commitment has positive impact on job performance.

Literature Review

According to Bratton and Gold (2007), organizational commitment is relative to the worker’s attachment or participation in the organization in which he/she is employed. Organizational commitment is very significant since it determines whether an employee is likely to leave his/her job or improve performance (Bratton and Gold, 2007, p. 13). There have been numerous studies related to the concept of organizational commitment. Mowday et al. (1979) emphasized on the concept referred to as attitudinal commitment and behavioural commitment. Another concept was introduced by Meyer and Allen (1991). This is the most recognized concept of organizational commitment. In this approach, organizational commitment has three multi-dimensional components namely effective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment (Mowday et al., 1979, p.8).

Effective commitment relates to emotional attachment and is normally linked to favorable working environment and relationship with the other employees. Normative commitment on the other hand relates to the feeling of obligation. This type of commitment is normally associated with employees who feel they owe the organization for being given a job when they needed it most. Lastly, continuance commitment relates to terms of employment such job contracts. In this case leaving the current job may be very costly or troublesome (Meyer and Allen, 1991, p.8).

Organizational commitment is a very vital component of measuring organizational effectiveness (Mullins, 2001, p. 36). Because of its multi-dimensional construct, organizational commitment has the capability of predicting organizational results such as performance, proceeds, cases of absenteeism, employees’ status, and organizational goals (Bratton and Gold, 2007, p. 13).

The performance/ turnover of workers owing to the organizational environment have become a major headache to many heads of organizations in general, and human resource managers in particular (Freund and Carmeli, 2003, p.1). This problem is mostly attributed to lack of stability and job security for one of the most important resources in the organization-employees (Freund and Carmeli, 2003, p. 2). Most organizations have begun to foster the workers’ feeling of commitment to their work/occupation/career, organization and its values and ambitions, and strong job ethics (Freund and Carmeli, 2003, p.3).

Models of Work Commitment

The soaring rate of rotation that is typical of the modern organizational environment over the recent years has called for the need to tackle challenges and complications resulting from the turnover rate. To address the impasse related with this objective, organizational efforts have progressed in two directions. At the micro-level, organizations regard workers commitment to a specific occupation. Organizational focus at the micro-level is on the modification of the human resource structure to suit the current needs to achieve the operational goals. To create a balance between organizational goals and workers needs, both psychological contract and dynamic viewpoint of trade and stability are required to make sure that the needs of all the parties are taken care of.

Freund and Carmeli (2003) came up with a model for five general forms of work commitment. According to this model there are five major commitments which reciprocate each other. These are career commitment, affirmative work ethic, occupational commitment, and organizational commitment (both continuance and effective commitment). The above five commitments are further classified into two major groups. The first category focuses on commitments that affect work attitudes with no reference to the organization where employees work. This includes work ethics, career commitment and occupational commitment. The second category is influenced by the organization in which employees work. They include continuance and effective organizational commitment.

In spite of the great significance attributed to the relationships between positions at work and the results of work, there are a few researches that have explored the link between multiple commitments and work results. Most of these studies deal with solitary variable for instance organizational commitment or satisfaction, and its relation to the organizational results (Bayazit and Mannix, 2003, p. 20). One of the initial models based on the idea of multiple commitments and the relationships between them was developed by Morrow (1983). Morrow’s model covered five commitments that influence the organizational outcomes and arranged them in a logical order.

According to Morrow, different forms of commitment covered in the model have reciprocal influence among themselves and this result into a circular structure based on the affirmative work ethic being linked to occupational commitment and continuance commitment. Occupational commitment is related to effective commitment and continuance commitment. As a result, continuance commitment is connected to effective commitment, and both have impact on job involvement to complete the circle (Bayazit and Mannix, 2003, p. 21).

Further studies on the above model have established that different forms of commitments have shared commitment among themselves (Morrow, 1993, p.5). The most fundamental form of commitment with the minimal ability for influence and change is the affirmative work ethic (Furnham, 1990, p. 22). This form of commitment, with which the employee is hired into the organization, will remain part of him in his career life with only small changes and with no connection to different organizations the employee has worked for. Nonetheless, affirmative work ethics have an impact on other forms of commitment such as continuance commitment (Furnham, 1990, p. 23). Affirmative work ethics is associated with occupational commitment because individuals have diverse perception of work and higher morals will influence an individual’s persistence in a given job or career. Additionally, affirmative work ethics influences continuance commitment because a number of relations received by an employee with affirmative work ethics are as a result of the fact that he has a working place (Bayazit and Mannix, 2003, p. 22).

According to Morrow’s model, job involvement is influenced by continuance commitment and effective commitment. Job involvement will be influenced by continuance commitment on the assumption that satisfactory relation will persuade the employees to invest more in his job (Furnham, 1990, p. 25). Effective commitment will influence job involvement given the conviction in the organizational objectives and identification with the values of the organization will push the employee to invest more in their job and therefore will increase employee participation (Furnham, 1990, p. 24-25).

Randall and Cote (1991) were the first to investigate Morrow’s model. They also focused on the five forms of commitment but used a different model structure. According to their study the most fundamental, most lasting commitment and the one with the least ability to change is the affirmative work ethic. Therefore, in this model affirmative work ethic is still fundamental but takes a new direction. According Randall and Cote’s model, affirmative work ethic will influence job involvement as along as it is so fundamental and entrenched in the employee that will make him to devote to his job and therefore will facilitate high job involvement (Randall and Cote, 1991, pp. 194).

Job involvement on the other hand will impact the remaining three commitments (effective, continuance and occupational commitment). Affirmative work ethic is a long-term and comparatively steady characteristic whereas the above three commitments are unstable and can change comparatively faster. Job involvement is a characteristic that highly influenced by affirmative work ethics in such a manner that high commitment to work will increase a person’s job commitment.

The main difference between Randall and Cote’s model and Morrow’s model is that in the former, job involvement tends to be a reconciliatory variable for the above mentioned three forms of commitment. Job involvement in Randall and Cote’s model is not computed by straightforwardly influencing yields, but by developing a connection and establishing the correct path among other commitment. That is to say, job involvement plays a significant part in Randall and Cote’s model, but in a different way as Morrow’s model, where job involvement is straightforwardly connected to the organizational results (Bayazit and Mannix, 2003, p. 21).

A third system of reciprocal influence between the five different forms of commitment was introduced by Cohen (1999) in his model. Cohen’s model also used affirmative work ethics as the basic variable in his model. Affirmative work ethics in this case is the only variable that can hardly be changed in the model (Furnham, 1990, p. 22). Affirmative work ethic is the fundamental commitment which influences other forms of commitment of any employee, but with no straightforward relation to the organizational outcome or commitment. This is because it takes a very long period of time to change this variable. Similar to the perception of Randall and Cote’s model, in this model, affirmative work ethics also can only influence job involvement and not other variables. Nonetheless, this where the similarity between these models ends; from here henceforth Cohen introduces a completely different system of context regarding the relations between different forms of commitment (Cohen, 1999, p. 286).

According to Cohen’s model, job involvement will influence occupational, effective and continuance commitments similar to Randall and Cote’s model. However, unlike the other two models, occupational commitment also influences continuance commitment and effective commitment in this model (Cohen, 2000, p. 388). The two forms of commitments are the most subjected and have the highest ability to change in an employee. This model uses the same five fundamental commitments described by Morrow but merges them in such a manner that they become more suitable for Randall and Cote’s model than Morrow’s model (Cohen, 1999, p. 287).

Job Satisfaction and Work Commitment

Schwepker (2001) defines job satisfaction as “the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating one’s values”. At the same time, he defined job dissatisfaction as “the unpleasant emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as frustrating or blocking the attainment of one’s values”. Herzberb et al. (1959) came up with famous theory of job satisfaction. The two-factor theory posits that workers have primarily two kinds of needs namely motivation and hygiene. Hygiene factors are those necessities that can be satisfied by particular conditions such as regulation, interpersonal relations, working conditions, remunerations among others. The theory suggests that job dissatisfaction normally arise in cases where hygienic factors do not exist. On the contrary, the supply of hygiene needs does not necessarily translate to full satisfaction. It’s only the level of dissatisfaction that can be minimized (Furnham et al., 2002, p. 1326).

According to the scale used by Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), job satisfaction is regarded as an attitude and there are three elements of workers’ attitudes of job satisfaction. These are categorized as extrinsic, intrinsic, and overall corroboration factors. Intrinsic factors include ability utilization, independence, ethical values, responsibility, security, ingenuity, societal services, societal status, and diversity. On the other hand, extrinsic factors include expansion, organizational policy, compensation, acknowledgement, and supervision of human capital (Schwepker, 2001, p. 40).

Most researchers have treated work commitment and job satisfaction as an independent variable. According to these researchers, work commitment and job satisfaction can be viewed in different angles (Jernigan et al., 2002, p.567). Job satisfaction is a form of reaction to a particular job or work-related subject; whereas commitment is more of a universal response. For that reason, commitment should be more consistent compared to job satisfaction in an organization (Feinstein and Vondrasek, 2001, p. 6). In their study of hotel employees, Feinstein and Vondrasek (2001) established that the level of satisfaction predicts organizational commitment. Another study conducted by Gaertner (1999, p.490) on the determinants of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, established that job satisfaction is the basis of organizational commitment.

Jernigan et al. (2002, p.567) explored the role that particular determinants of job satisfaction plays in predicting different types of commitment in the organization. They established that effective commitment differed with individual’s satisfaction within facets of the work context. In such cases, the role of the management can not be overlooked because they are the key people at the highest level responsible for moving the organization ahead. A research conducted by Maxwell and Steele (2008) among hotel managers identified the principle issue that enhances the level of commitment in organizations. These include high and equitable remuneration, employers’ interest on their workers, high level of cooperation in the organization, and opportunities to take part in social activities (Maxwell and Steele, 2008, p. 363).

According to Maxwell and Steele (2008, p.370) payment strategy and recognition are extrinsic job satisfaction variables; whereas workers interest in terms of autonomy, security, teamwork and trust in terms of moral values, and opportunities to take part in social activities are intrinsic job satisfaction variables. On the other hand, Bateman and Strasser (1984) posit that organizational commitment can sometimes be an independent variable with job satisfaction as the resultant variable (Bateman and Strasser, 1984, p. 96). They argued that employees who are highly committed to an organization may experience high level of satisfaction in their work. According to Lau and Chong (2002) highly committed employees would endeavour to meet organization’s goals and interest. This kind of attitude will influence budgetary planning and goals of the managers. Thus, satisfaction is proposed as an outcome instead of an antecedent. In general, the theory suggests that job satisfaction is a precursor of organizational commitment where the aspect of job satisfaction has an imperative impact on the dimension of organizational commitment (Lau and Chong, 2002, p. 184).

In U.S., McClurg (1999) carried out an investigation on whether patterns of organizational commitment existing in the normal work settings are applicable in the temporary-help service sector. She recommended that offering support to part-time workers in non-monitory manner is the most effective way of enhancing organizational commitment. She also noted that part-time employees should be considered as homogeneous group since there are numerous reasons for hiring them and treating them differently may affect their commitment to work. However, McClurg did not test this in her research.

Lowry et al. (2002) established that part-time employees encounter varying level of work commitment and job satisfaction in relation to their perception of work context aspects, for instance, training, promotion, scheduling of work, organizational practices and interpersonal relationships. They asserted that satisfaction with employment security have less effect or work commitment than satisfaction with quality of life. Brotherton (2003) established that, in the perspective of nurturing commitment and innovation among hotel workers, the most significant thing is the clarity of employment contract, rather than whether or not the contract offers a level of permanency or job security to the workers. He also found out that, in a number of situations, where the job contract is as specific as possible regarding job requirements, part-timers performed better than full-timers whose psychological contract entailed disseminate expectation, for instance, corporate citizenship.

Organizational commitment is both beneficial to employers and employees (Clarke and Chen, 2007). For individual employees, work commitment signifies a positive relationship with the organization and attaches more meaning to life; whereas, for employers, committed workers have the likelihood of enhancing organizational performance, reduce turnover and cases of absenteeism (Chon, Sung and Yu 1999, p. 12). Organizational commitment has also been associated with efficiency, productivity, creativity and innovativeness among employees (Lashley and Lee-Ross, 2003, p. 16).

Allen and Meyer (1990, p. 2) are among the authors who linked work commitment and staff turnover. According the two authors, workers who are highly committed are less likely to quit the organization. They relate turnover intention to effective commitment and to a slighter degree, normative commitment. The link between continuous commitment and staff turnover intention is not consistent across studies (Chon, Sung and Yu 1999, p. 13). The same case is true regarding measurement of actual turnover taking into consideration effective and normative commitment and not continuance commitment (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2003, p. 18).

There are numerous approaches that have been developed to assess organizational commitment (Mullins, 2007, p. 2). The most widely accepted approach is the use of Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS) developed by Allen and Meyer (1990). OCS measures the three forms of commitment (Effective, Continuance and Normative commitment). OCS has been widely used in a broad range of samples and situations and has been significantly reviewed by numerous researchers (Allen and Meyer, 1996, p.253).

Job Satisfaction and Work Commitment in the Hospitality Industry

A study conducted by Aksu and Aktas (2005) regarding job satisfaction of managers in a five star hotel established that improved working conditions can enhance job satisfaction. Improved working conditions in this case encompassed work promotions, boosting Morales of employees, financial rewards, fringe benefits and compensation, and realistic working hours. Lam et al. (2003) suggested in their study that training and development can assist in enhancing job satisfaction in the service industry. The study also found out that a manager in the hotel industry plays a significant role in work commitment and satisfaction. The study established that seniors or mentors in the hospitality industry are likely to encourage their juniors or the newcomers, thus influence their job satisfaction and behavioral intent (Lam et al., 2003).

Jernigan et al. (2002) studied the relationship between workers service orientation and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and worker’s intention of quitting his/her job. The study covered restaurant workers and the results were as follows: consumer emphasis of service of employees are negatively correlated with job satisfaction but positively correlated with organizational commitment; support from the organization is positively correlated with job satisfaction; organizational commitment is negatively correlated with workers intention to quit his/her job (Jernigan et al., 2002, p. 171-172).

Karatepe et al. (2006) conducted a study on the effects of personal characteristics such as competiveness, endeavor, and individual efficacy on frontline worker’s performance and job satisfaction. They suggested that unless the executive is not committed to service delivery, they should promote their career instead of job only and attract competitive and individual efficacious staff. In addition, they should promote sound environment to reduce conflicts takes place as a result of unhealthy competition. Another study conducted by Tapeci and Bartlett (2002) among the frontline staff found out that workers satisfaction is based on personal values in addition to organizational factors. As a result, satisfied workers are more likely to satisfy the clients and eventually help the organization to move forward.

Gonzalez and Garazo (2006, p. 27) recommends the hotel leadership to put more focus on frontline staff to rouse job satisfaction and organizational commitment/citizenship. This is because service communicative management services encounter practices promotes organizational commitment and enhances job satisfaction among employees. Lastly, a research conducted by Ghiseli et al. (2001) on food service workers and their managers, found out that remuneration, fringe benefits, working hours, welfare services and family influences job satisfaction in the hotel industry. The study also established that low ranking officers were more likely to quit than the high ranking employees.

Work Values and Commitment

There has been a growing interest in the study of human values and work values over the recent years. Most of these studies have paid a lot emphasis on typology and quantification of values to its dynamic priorities, for instance, stability and change; and the relations between values and attitudes, objectives and characters (Redman and Wilkinson, 2001, p. 20). Some studies have tried to distinguish values from attitudes while others have tried to relate them. According to Elizur et al. (1991) work values are defined as a conglomeration of attitudes and opinions with which employees can assess their jobs and work surrounding. Hertberg et al. (1959) regarded work values as a representation of motivational aspects. On the other hand, Furnham (2002) considered work values as representing affirmative work ethics.

A number of studies have regarded values and work values particularly as a significant variable in describing organizational commitment (Furnham, 2002, p.1323). According to Feinstein and Vondrasek (2001) commitment is an expression of one’s own self, and mirrors standard values that are fundamental to one’s existence as a person. Elizur et al. (1991) established a restrained relationship between work values and organizational commitment. Miller et al. (2002) studied the relationship between work values and organizational commitment of workers in the hospitality industry. They established that intrinsic work values were closely more related to organizational commitment in comparison to extrinsic work values.

Work Commitment Among Full-Time and Part-Time Employees

In our contemporary society employment relationships has remarkably changed. Workers’ job status at the present time has developed into two types; standard work status (permanent or full-time) and the non-standard work status (temporary, contractual or part-time). Most organizations have turned to non-standard work status to provide high level of scheduling flexibility, meet the unexpected demand more efficiently, and to cut down cost of wages and salaries. In addition, the number of part-time employees is the highest in the service industry (Conway and Briner, 2002, p. 280).

In spite of the growing significance of this category of workers in different sectors of the economy, there are comparatively few researches on the part-time employment. Part-time employees are known to differ in numbers from full-time workers, but the degree in which their work attitudes differ is less apparent (Krausz, Sagie and Bidermann, 2000, p. 2). Most studies on part-time and full-time employees have concentrated on the difference in attitudes and behaviors of these two categories of workers. However, there are a number of studies that have touched on work status, work commitment and job satisfaction. Other studies have even considered further relationships, for example, work status and organizational environment.

Studies evaluating job satisfaction across full-time and part-time workers exhibit contradicting results. Studies have found that part-time workers are more, less and equally satisfied with their works than full-time workers (Krausz, Sagie and Bidermann, 2000; Sinclair et al., 1999). Correspondingly, there have also been contradicting results from comparisons of commitment levels between the two set of employees. These studies have also found that part-time workers are more, less and equally committed to their work than full-time workers (Martin & Hafer, 1995; Sinclair et al., 1999; Krausz, Sagie and Bidermann, 2000). Most researchers who have attempted to explain these disparities have mostly applied the theories of partial inclusion and frame of reference (Krausz, Sagie and Bidermann, 2000, p. 3).

According to the theory of partial inclusion, part-time workers are argued to be partially included since they spend fewer hours in the workplace and are more involved in organizational operations than full-time workers (Conway and Briner, 2002, p. 283). In the case of frame theory, part-time workers are believed to have diverse frame of reference from that of full-time employees (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p.282) given that the group and aspects of work environment chosen to analyze the two job categories always differ. For instance, some studies have found out that part-time employees put more emphasis on working hour’s flexibility than full-time workers (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p. 282-283).

The two theories have also been used paradoxically in many ways to explain the difference between the two types of work status. For example, researchers have used the feeling of inclusivity to explain higher levels of job satisfaction. This is because the theories of partial inclusion and frame of reference can be manipulated to describe any experiential results since they are normally used to post rationalize results (Conway and Briner, 2002, p. 282). However, none of these theories have been tried experimentally and since they are scantily described, it is not apparent how they may be put into practice (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p.283).

A number of studies have used psychological contract theory as a descriptive framework for the employment relationship and for explaining workers attitudes and behaviors (Sinclair et al., 1999, p. 340). This theory has been used in many ways to describe employment relationship, but the main construct within this theory is organizational results achieved through psychological contract achievement or contravention. Psychological contract realization has been found to be positively correlated to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and performance. It is also found to be negatively correlated to intention to quit the organization (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p.284). Therefore, psychological contract is a very reasonable approach in understanding attitudes and behaviors of workers in different types of employment and recently it was established that it is useful in understanding contingent employees (Sinclair et al., 1999, p. 341).

At the organizational level part-time employees have been found to be treated differently from full-time employees in terms of task performed, remuneration, work diversity, independence, and opportunities to grow (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p.287). For instance, there are enough evidence that show that part-time employees are unlikely to be given the same promotion and training opportunities in the same organization (Lam et al., 2003, p. 162). Part-time employees are normally hired when the organization is experiencing busy period and are expected to perform fairly repetitive tasks during this periods. As a result organizations usually perceive their contribution to be dissimilar from those of full timers in terms of, for instance, effort and flexibility. If part timers perceive that they are being treated differently in terms of incentives they get and contributions they offer, this is likely to influence their perception of psychological contract (Fieldman and Doerpinghaus, 1992, p.289).

At personal level, part timers have different professional orientation, so they may make a meaningful trade-off of types of compensation with organization to have greater flexibility and extra time to attend to other commitments (Lam et al., 2003, p. 164). Generally, many researchers have predicted that full-timers have soaring expectation than part-timers regarding what they are supposed to get from the organization (Sinclair et al., 1999, p. 345). At interpersonal level, part-time employees in most cases are treated differently or subjected to different assumptions by the leadership and fellow employees. Studies have established that part-time employees are mostly managed under the assumptions of theory X and stereotypes. Different treatment across work status can be seen by part-timers as interactional prejudice, thus can lead to perception of unfairness or violation (Morrison and Robinson, 1997, p. 227).

Methodology

Introduction

This chapter details the research methodologies employed in this study. In so doing, the research question is presented and the research objectives and philosophy are discussed. In order to investigate the work commitment among full-time versus part-time workers at Marriott International Hong Kong, this study will adopt a theory development and application designs (Saunders et al, 2007). The research methods used “both primary and secondary” are described in detail, and selection and use of these methods are justified. Data collection techniques, as well as sample selection and data analysis are discussed. In addition, pertinent issues and considerations (including limitations) relating to this specific research are presented and discussed. The research methodology is set out clearly in this chapter so that the same approach can be adopted by other researchers in the future. Therefore, this study will proceed from a research philosophy, research approach, applications strategy, research plan, data collection approaches and verifications of the outcomes.

Research Philosophy

For this part, choosing a philosophy of research design is the choice between the positivist and the social constructionist (Easterby, 2008, p.147). The positivist view shows that social worlds exist externally, and its properties are supposed to be measured objectively, rather than being inferred subjectively through feelings, intuition, or reflection. The basic beliefs for positivist view are that the observer is independent, and science is free of value. The researchers should concentrate on facts, look for causality and basic laws, reduce phenomenon to simplest elements, and form hypotheses and test them. Preferred methods for positivism consist of making concepts operational and taking large samples. While on the other hand, social constructionism holds the view that reality is subjective and it is socially constructed and given meaning by people. It is best explored through a clear focus on the ways that people make sense of the world via language (Saunders, 2009, p.321).

The basic beliefs for social constructionism are that the observer is part of what is observed and science is driven by human interest. The researchers should concentrate on meaning, look for understanding for what really happened and develop ideas with regard to the data. Preferred methods for social constructionism include using different approaches to establish different views of phenomenon and small samples evaluated in depth or over time. (Saunders, 2009, p.322) For the case of work commitment among full-time versus part-time workers at Marriott International Hong Kong, the philosophy of social constructionism would be used for carrying out the research. Because it tends to produce qualitative data, and the data are subjective since the gathering process would also be subjective due to the involvement of the researcher. Furthermore, the location is natural as it takes place in a commercial organization rather than in the laboratory. The reliability is low (would be countered by triangulation) and the validity is high.

Research Approach

This study will entail a distinct case study at Marriott International Hotel in Hong Kong. The study uses numerous methods of data collection (these include the use of questionnaires, interviews and analysis of secondary data), recommended by Saunders et al. (2007) as a way of achieving high internal validity. The study also employs other methods acknowledged by Eisenhardt (1999) and de Vaus (2010) used normally for case studies.

The study entailed data collection from numerous perspectives within the case. 180 questionnaires were administered to both full-time and part-time workers at operational level, and interviews were conducted on eight operational workers, union representatives and senior and middle-level managers. Therefore, all efforts to obtain a whole picture of the complexity of the case by analyzing its essential elements was exhausted (de Vaus, 2001, p. 220). This kind of approach (multi-level) also ensures richness of the collected data and cross-checks data validity.

Even though there are disadvantages associated with single case study as opposed to numerous case studies such as lack of opportunity to replicate the results, single case study is vital in corroborating, expanding or challenging a particular theory (Eisenhardt, 1999, p. 38). The single case study of the Hotel shows most of the principal employment characteristics that exists in hospitality industry.

The first contact with the Hotel Employees was made with the top management through a phone conversation where the aim of the research was defined and data collection processes discussed. The researcher availed copies of the proposed questionnaires and interview questions to the departmental heads. They were supplied to the employees who were supposed to complete them before the beginning of the shift and during break times. The first part of the questionnaire mainly dwelled on the details of the employment. The second part commenced on the 17 items of Allen and Meyer’s (1990) OCS (Organizational Commitment Scale) in addition to 8 items from Mowday et al. (1979) OCQ (Organizational Commitment Questionnaire), which were incorporated after the analysis of pre-test data. The third part focused on the demographic information.The interviews were also conducted to enhance richness of data and to add meaning to the questionnaire. Each interview with the management took roughly 20 minutes and those with operational workers about 10 minutes.

The choice of questionnaires and example methods was justified because The selection of in-depth, exploratory interviews as a method of primary research for this study is justified on the basis of a number of particular considerations:

• As a primary objective of the exploratory interview was to identify the range of pertinent issues from each perspective, an exclusively safe environment was required.
• The issues to be covered in detail are complex in nature, requiring time and discussion in order to achieve more complete answers.
• Questionnaires carry a significant level of authority in their respective fields, and it is important that their contributions be properly and respectively attributed.
• As high-level representatives of the respondents were targeted, the scheduling of individual sessions was more practical than attempting to assemble a group.

From this general view, it is apparent that these qualitative study cycles are developing from one process to the next. While in the process of exploring the study theories, new variables emerged (Saunders et al. 2007). These outcomes test the study and guide the development of the questionnaire from the literature outcomes from a non-biased angle.

Research Strategy

First, cases were selected purposefully in qualitative research, with regard to whether or not they correlated with some contextual characteristics or locations. Next, the part played by the researchers was to obtain a higher critical care (de Vaus, 2001, p.89). This is mainly done through qualitative research due to the fact that there is every chance of the researcher assuming a transcendental or a ‘neutral’ position. Thus, this appears to be more elusive both in philosophical and/or practical terms. It is for this reason that the qualitative researchers are frequently pressed to mirror on their part in the research procedures and make things obvious in their research analyses.

Consequently, a wide variety of forms can be taken by qualitative data analysis; the forms range within quantitative research in its coverage on meaning, signs, and language. Moreover, qualitative research procedures evaluate contextually and holistically, instead of being isolationist and reductionist. Nevertheless, transparent and systematic methods to analysis are ever considered as crucial for cogency. For instance, majority of qualitative processes need researchers to methodologically script data and to know and record themes reliably and consistently (Bryman, 2003, p.217).

It is the qualitative procedures that are used for explaining puzzling quantitative results or for exploration (i.e. hypothesis-generating). However, the most customary division between the employment of quantitative and qualitative research particularly in the social sciences is that quantitative methods are employed to evaluate the main hypotheses. This is so to establish content correctness and to evaluate measures that the researcher believes he/she should evaluate. This is regarded as one of the striking benefits of qualitative research. Some regard quantitative methods to offer more samples, precise and reliable measures through focalized hypotheses, evaluation techniques and applied mathematics. On the contrary, qualitative data is normally arduous to display or graph in mathematical terms (Bryman, 2003, p.217). Qualitative overtures have the benefit of permitting for more multifariousness with regard to the replies and the capability to fit into new happenings or matters particularly during the research process itself. An outstanding element of qualitative research is that it can be time-consuming and expensive to carry-out, many provinces of research use qualitative procedures that have been chiefly planned to offer more cost-efficient, succinct and timely outcomes (Bryman, 2003, p.218).

Ethical Issues

In this research study, the researcher is hypothesized to have considered all parts of the ethical issues. The ethical issues need to be pointed out in the proposal of the research. Research should be designed and undertaken in such a way that it fosters quality and integrity. The research staff needs to be informed of the purpose, methods and the use of the research. In addition, research also needs to respect the confidential information and the anonymity of the respondents. The harm that may be transferred to the participants must be avoided (Bryman, 2003, p.234). In line with this research on work commitment of full-time workers and part-time workers, the data collected had to be confidential and not reported to others. The participants were required to take part in the research voluntarily, and they had the right of not answering questions that they regarded as uncomfortable. The researcher needs to respect the anonymity of the respondents. However, sometimes it may misrepresent the data when conducting data analysis (Bryman, 2003, p.234).

Data Collection Methods

Data can be classified into two and they are secondary data and primary data. Primary data refers to the new data (observation, survey, interview, experiment, etc) that the researcher needs to collect for the research while secondary data refers to the existing data that are available in various sources including books, journals, internet, etc. (Easterby, 2008, p.216). For primary data collection, the issue is to focus on sampling. As far as researcher is considered, the sampling technique is significant. For example, the sample size that is determined should not be too small as this will make it difficult to generalize the data. It is to be noted that reliable results can be originated from larger sample size (Bryman, 2003, p.309)

Secondary data can be said to be quantifiable. Quantitative data collection methods mean that numerical data are collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which provide wide coverage, reliability and objectivity, but lack other details and specific information. Qualitative data collection methods refer to non-numeric data that are collected through observations, interviews and formal or informal discussions. It deals with specific problem, but lacks objectivity and generalization (Saunders, 2009, p.241). Secondary data was got mainly from publications, case studies and from the internet sources.

The primary data sources in the case study comprised of questionnaires and interviews, and texts and documents. The use of in-depth, questionnaire and examples was considered by the researcher to be the best means of capturing both perspectives, allowing each contributor a safe, confidential and ample space in which to express views and opinions. In addition, in-depth interviews would provide a depth and breadth of understanding, satisfying the primary research objectives. However, this method is not without challenges for the researcher: the lack of structure requires a skilful approach by the researcher in order to elicit the required information in an unbiased fashion; in-depth interviews can be time consuming and costly; the interpretation and analysis of respondent contribution can be difficult and time consuming; and non-verbal communication, such as body language must also be interpreted.

Sample Selection

The questionnaires were issued to the employees at Marriott International Hong Kong. The study chose a target of 200 respondents and received feedback from 188 respondents. This is equivalent to a 94% response rate which is very excellent. The questionnaire targeted mostly the regular operational employees, middle level managers and the senior managers.

Limitation of Data Collection Methods

There have been a lot of concerns on additional budgetary expenses for collection of the data, regardless of whether the gathered data is really genuine or not and whether there may be an explicit conclusion when interpreting and analyzing the data (Noor, 2008, p.1602).In addition, some employees were reluctant to offer some information they deemed confidential and can make them lose their job. This posed a great challenge to the research as the researcher had to take a longer time to find employees who were willing to give out adequate information.

Validity and Reliability

Validity of the data represents the data integrity and it connotes that the data is accurate and much consistent. Validity has been explained as a descriptive evaluation of the association between actions and interpretations and empirical evidence deduced from the data (Robson, 2002, p.214). The canyon of validity is applicable to all guises of evaluation (which are both qualitative and quantitative) by coalescing scientific inquiry and rational debates to prove or disprove the outcomes and interpretations emanating from the data collected (Carter, 2009, p.239).

Study Reliability

This study gained reliability of the examples and literature sources because the subject under study is recorded in various peer reviewed academic databases that are accessible to the researcher and other interested verifiers. (Saunders et al. 2007).The literature was from peer reviewed journals and articles, therefore, this study gained considerable reliability.

Construct Validity

The study has gained construct validity because of the application of the literature review and use of primary data as the foundation of the multiple sources to cover for the limitations of each source (Saunders et al. 2007).The primary sources of information were the application of the questionnaire to the employees of Marriott International Hong Kong. The data coding was for confidentiality of the details of the respondents and for future traceability, by the researcher incase of error found at advanced stages in the research process. In data coding, letters and numbers were used to denote the various questionnaires by the respondents. The data coding was also important for future traceability of information sources just incase there was need to verify some facts or verify trend in results. The literature-reviewed sources are also traceable by credible web link.

Internal Validity

Internal validity is achieved by matching the primary data with literature reviews. However, the internal validity of this study guards against perception errors; against halo effects, for example, that respondents had prior feedback; against memory recall, for example, that respondents could not get the past fact rights and against reflexivity, for example, that the respondents gave convenient feedback to the researcher (Noor 2008, p. 1602-1604).

External Validity

The outcomes from this study require external validity. Since work commitment is a universal phenomenon, the outcomes will be externally valid when they show similar trends to other organizations in the hospitality industry. Therefore, the gaps arising in the external validity fill by various case studies as elaborated in the research process. The main aim of external validity is to predict a trend in work commitment among full-time and part-time employees and familiar literature reviews as well as to outline any major differences in the theories (Noor 2008, p. 1602-1604).

Results and Analysis

The case study took place at Marriott International Hong Kong. The hotel has about 1400 guest rooms and more than four food and drinks outlets. The hotel also has restaurants and lounges, swimming pools, fitness and recreational facilities, and Spa. The Hotel’s personnel are in excess of 800 employees working in different departments (Marriot, 2012). Key statistics of workforce at Marriot International Hong Kong are summarized in table 1.

Table 1: Key Statistics of Workforce at Marriot International Hong Kong

Out of the 188 respondents (operational workers) to the questionnaire, roughly 40% were part-timers. This number is slightly higher than the proportion of the overall part-timers in the Hotel. However, there was somehow under-representation of females in the case study (45.9% as compared to overall proportion of 50%). Over half of the part-timers who responded to the survey stated that they were in temporary employment because they could not get permanent employment, signifying preference for full-time employment.

To establish the level of satisfaction among these employees, they were asked whether they were satisfied with their work status, and if satisfied, the degree of satisfaction. Generally, 75% of the respondents affirmed that they were satisfied with their work status and of these, 45% affirmed that they were very satisfied. Cross-tabulation was done to determine satisfaction and degree of satisfaction of respondent’s work status. From the study we established that part-timers were less satisfied with their work than full-timers. 59% of the part-timers stated that they were satisfied with their work and out of this, 60% were either fairly or slightly satisfied. In comparison, about 89% of the full timers stated that they were satisfied with their work and out of this, 36% were either fairly or slightly satisfied.

To probe whether part-time workers have lesser degree of commitment than full-time workers, the data from Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS) was initially tested for reliability and discriminate validity as per Allen and Meyer (1990).To compare the degree of commitment among part-time employees and full-time employees, independent sample t-tests were carried out. The average for composite measures for affective, continuance and normative commitment were first taken across the items in each scale. In accordance with literature, commitments of part-time employees were found to be lower. The table blow summarizes the findings.

Table 2: Samples t-test

The examination of the data from the questionnaire showed that part-time employees had considerably lower levels of affective commitment than full-time counterparts, but there was not considerable disparity in the degree of continuance and normative commitment between the two set of employees. This results are supported by the literature review which had predicted the same (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2003; Clarke and Chen, 2007). On the other hand, the analysis of the data from the interviews showed even though the hotel management perceived the commitment of part-time workers to be lower than full-timers, this was not an intuitive thought from the workers alone. According to one of the managers part-time works are not as committed to work as to their personal interests. One of the union representative asserted that pert-time employees were not committed because of how they are treated in the organization.

The questions asked to workers at the operational level related mainly to the items of Organizational Commitment Scale. For effective commitment, the researcher enquired whether they felt attached and pleased of working in the Hotel. Both two set of employees (part-time and full-time employees) pointed out that they were pleased working for the Hotel, but were more attached to each other than to the Hotel. The response related to continuance commitment indicated that both the full-timers and part-timers had no intention of leaving their jobs because the Hotel offered a number of benefits such as free meals, flexible working hours and uniforms which is not the case in other local Hotels. However, the response to normative commitment, workers gave varied responses pointing out the reciprocal nature of loyalty and everyone had their own view of loyalty. Some of them felt that it was prudent to stay with a single employer for a while than jumping from one employer to the other.

Conclusion

The results of the data analysis from the questionnaire relating to lower commitment of part-time employees is significant since, of the three commitment components, this is the most popular (Allen and Meyer. 1996, p. 3). The conceptualizations of affective commitment by a number of researchers show that it is the most fundamental form of commitment in the organization. This is because it relates to the feeling of attachment and belonging to an organization, which is not tainted by the moderately conditional forms of the other two forms of commitment. In the case of normative commitment, a sense of belonging and attachment is somehow tainted because workers have strong general sense of commitment. In other words, employee loyalty is not restricted to one organization and therefore it is the least desirable form of commitment. For that reason, the results of lower affective commitment of part-time workers are the most important for any organization.

Even though there is some lack of accuracy as to the impact of lower levels of affective commitment, consistency exists in literatures relating to its consequence on employees’ turnover (Allen and Meyer, 1996, p. 265). Fascinatingly though, Marriott International Hong Kong has lower rate of turnover compared to the whole industry, though this number is high among the part-timers. Nonetheless, it is the results from the interview that can provide more information regarding the management of part-time employees and level of turnover.

Consistently both set of employees voiced their sense of loyalty based on what the Hotel provides for them, rather than a sense of loyalty or attachment to the Hotel inherently. Both full-time and part-time employees felt some level of commitment to the organization because of the services offered and their concern for the welfare of the Hotel, probably because this would affect them in terms of job loss and not because of their attachment to the Hotel.

To a great extent, the benefit valued by most workers can easily be availed by large Hotels such Marriott International. Researchers have discovered that most of these large organizations are less likely to develop feeling of commitments as compared to smaller organizations (Riley, 2000, p. 34). This partly attributed to the fact that large organizations offer certain benefits that are not available elsewhere and there large size offers an element of security. In the study, both part-time and full-time employees expressed high degree of loyalty and commitment to their fellow workers. This loyalty among workers is very significant since it also affects commitment (Cohen, 2000, p. 389). This is a novel form of commitment since organizational commitment is being replaced by interpersonal commitment. This feeling of loyalty was underpinned by the social context in which the workers viewed their fellow colleagues. One of the part-time operational employee revealed that he had no other friends within the workplace except his work colleagues.

The concept of conditionality of work commitment was dominant in the interview. Fewer studies have been carried out on the employer’s commitment to workers. This is a significant area of management of organizational commitment that should be given a lot of emphasis in the future since it affects staff turn over rate to large extent. Most organizations are now attempting to increase commitment through conventional HR practices, for instance, provision of training and development opportunities and monitoring and evaluation of performance (Bratton and Gold, 2007, p. 4).

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The Marriott Company

One of the companies on Fortune magazine’s list of the most admired companies is Marriott International. It is the world leader in the hotel business, franchising over fifteen various brands around the world, including The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, and Residence Inn. Over the years, Marriott has become a brand associated with the highest standards of hospitality. Founded in 1927 by J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott, the company’s growth and prosperity are also the result of the hard work and dedication of their son, J. W. “Bill” Marriott.

J. Willard Marriott started out in food service with his Hot Shoppes restaurant chain and A&W Root Beer (“Our Story” 1). Ten years later, Hot Shoppes started providing “in-flight” food service to the passengers at the airport. In 1957, J. Willard entered the hospitality business, opening the first hotel in Virginia: the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, managed by Bill Marriott (“Our Story” 1). In 1967, Hot Shoppes Company transformed into Marriott, Inc. During the last decades of the twentieth century, Marriott diversified intensively, launching many brands. Moreover, Marriott was the first in the hospitality business to provide their guests with the possibility of booking their reservations online.

Promoting Ethics and Innovation

The innovative character of Marriott International is an asset of the company, as well as an appealing quality for its potential employees. E-commerce and implementation of new technological solutions are essential parts of Marriott’s strategy (“The Power of Marriott” 7). The company’s staff training program, with the use of the latest technologies, is an opportunity for developing the staff’s full potential. Emphasizing the aspect of innovation is a sign that the company has not stopped evolving and improving the quality of its services and facilities. This is the most attractive quality of Marriott International. When a company takes nothing for granted and focuses on constant development, an employee can be certain that their work will be appreciated and properly rewarded.

Moreover, Marriott stresses the importance of ethical issues. In 2011, the company conducted ethical training, “Ethics and Human Rights” (“Marriott International, Inc.” 1), and was involved in such programs as the Youth Career Initiative and SOS Children’s Villages. In addition, new software was recently put into use, which helps the disabled surf the Internet using personalized customer service and cutting-edge assistive technology (“Core Values & Heritage” 1). The Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative and Energy and Environmental Action Plan were also implemented in 2011-2012 (Gardetti 37). Apart from the ethical dimension, Marriott stands out, due to the multicultural character of its workforce. Minorities occupy 26% of its managerial positions. Thus, Marriott has many appealing dimensions, encouraging a potential employee to join their team.

Informational Interview Report

An interview with a restaurant manager at the Marriott Hotel in St. Louis has provided valuable insights. The manager, Charlie, has worked at Marriott St. Louis for over three years. When asked why he chose this career path, he clarified that he never anticipated working in a hotel, let alone Marriott. Charlie admitted that he took an interest in how restaurants worked during a year off after high school graduation. He used to complain constantly about the food and service in certain places. After a while, he decided he knew how to improve restaurant service. However, the job of restaurant manager also requires a wide range of management skills, so Charlie had to gain the necessary educational experience first. He received a Diploma in Hospitality Supervision & Leadership. By the time he graduated, he had already gained some work experience in the local restaurant chains, so he could directly apply the knowledge he had received.

Current Position

Getting the prestigious position of the restaurant manager at a Marriott Hotel did not happen by chance. It took Charlie three years after college graduation to gain enough experience, mostly in fine dining restaurants, which paved the way to Marriott. When he learned that there was an opening for a restaurant manager, he felt confident enough to apply. The experience he gained after college was suitable for this job.

When asked about his daily routine, he admits that it involves a lot of paperwork, although part of it is managed by his supervisors. Apart from planning the menus and scheduling shifts, he has to supervise various processes in the restaurant, as well as ensure that all employees are sufficiently trained.

Crucial ideas

Hospitality, he says, is not merely the attitude displayed toward the customers. It is a global approach, where the superiors take care of their subordinates. Otherwise, how can you expect them to take good care of the customers? Indeed, it is a crucial concept to understand, and at Marriott it is an integral part of the company’s hotel policy (Woolfe 54). In this way, Charlie mentions the feature of the company which is the most appealing, namely, its dedication to ethics and innovation. “It is really gratifying to see how the company continues to evolve and watch your working process benefit from it.” According to Charlie, training in new technology is mandatory for all managerial employees and is conducted on a regular basis.

The hospitality business offers many interesting career opportunities. Learning about Marriott helped understand how the industry works. While it is undeniable that this field is increasingly competitive, a career in hotel management is definitely worth considering.

References

Core Values and Heritage. n.d. Web.

Gardetti, Miguel, and Ana Laura Torres. Sustainability in Hospitality. How Innovative Hotels Are Transforming the Industry. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing Limited, 2016. Print.

Marriott International, Inc. Our Commitment to Human Rights. 2012. Web.

Our Story. n.d. Web.

The Power of Marriott International. n.d. Web.

Woolfe, Lorin. The Bible on Leadership. From Moses to Matthew – Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders. New York: Amacom, 2002. Print.

Background

JW Marriott hotels is owned by Marriot international. Marriot international is a Washington DC based company. In 1927, Willard Marriott started the hotel chain

(Marriott 6). Key Bridge Marriott is the company’s longest running hotel and it opened its doors in 1959. From there on, it ignited an international growth to include 3,150 properties.

In 1992, Marriott cooperation was split into two. The split formed two companies; Host Marriot corp. and Marriot international (Marriott 8). In 1995, Marriott acquired a 49 % controlling stake in Ritz Carlot Hotel (Marriott 13). In 2005, all the rooms in the hotel

were given an overhaul. In the same year, the hotel chain marked a milestone as the only hotel that did not offer trans fat foods (Marriott 15).

Business performance

Marriot hotels and resorts have continued to perform exemplarily. This is as far as sales and financial performance are concerned. As much as it has a global presence in different markets, it has enhanced its sales activities to reach as many customers as possible.

These can be demonstrated from many sales centers it has in different markets (Marriott 23). From its third quarter results as at October 2010, the company posted good financial returns. For instance, total sales revenues increased by 9% to $253 million.

Its worldwide system and growth improved considerably by 8.2% (Marriott 7).in addition, the chain of hotels also realized a net income of $ 83 million.

This net income represented a 56 % rise in income in comparison with the results of the previous year. In addition, the company has a wide array of hotels under construction. The company’s strong cash flow has enabled it to reduce its debts ahead of schedule. Its total revenues were $2.6 billion (Marriott 21).

Strategy

In order to remain competitive in the market, the chain of hotels has sought to integrate an inimitable brand strategy. On the other hand, it should be known that the hotel business was not a glimmer in the eyes of the company owner. Marriot believes that its job is to make sure that customers have the best possible experience.

By doing this, the company knows very well that its customers come from different backgrounds, culture, religion and tradition (Marriott 19). The execution of the brand strategy begins with one branch of the hotel and then later on, it is replicated to the others.

This is because customer satisfaction relates in one way or the other with overall business performance (Marriott 7). The company employs global diversity and inclusion as a way of thriving in the market place. This is done by laying more emphasis on customers, suppliers, owners, workforce and recognition. Its current business strategy is also built on strategic alliances with other like minded business partners.

This strategy has encompassed various cultural competencies to build upon its success. In addition, the company believes in working with locally owned businesses. This is more so in relation to different communities. By doing this, the company believes that it will be a win for the business and the community (Okumas12).

Competitor analysis

Porter 5 forces

Marriot Hotel has been a good shaper of the market because it has focused on operational and tactical execution. Industry mapping is a powerful tool that can help give a good strategic view of the competitive terrain (Harris 8). This is in relation to porters’ five forces as a framework that helps in business strategy development and industry analysis.

Source: Porter 2008.

The hospitality industry has continued to attract a lot of new entrants’ because of its growth potential and high returns (Hassanien et al 13). Although this are expected in a normal business environment, the company has focused on continually renewing its business for success.

On the other hand, there is a more intensified bargaining power from customers. This is because they are more enlightened about products and this has been enhanced by availability of information (Hax and Majluf 8). The company has survived this by enhancing brand recognition and customer satisfaction.

Because of diversity and competition, there is a lot of competitive rivalry within the hospitality industry (Hubbard et al 11).

This can be explained from the urge to expand and attract more customers. Marriot hotels has employed franchising as a way of reaching new markets instead of investing in real estate which is very costly. Competitive rivalry has also forced it to enhance brand recognition and customers experience as a way of retaining customers.

Bargaining power of suppliers is another force that businesses in the hospitality industry have to cope up with. Because of its global presence, the company has operations in different markets. As a matter of fact, it works with locally owned businesses and suppliers by making them part of the group. This is where they are given preference to contracts in areas the company has operations (Marriott 27).

Because of intensified competition in the market, there is also a high threat of substitute products (Hubbard et al 2008, p. 24). Marriot hotels has employed innovative brand strategies as a way of ensuring that its products are not made irrelevant in the market by substitute products.

The company encourages multiplication of talents as a way that it can use to build its products and brands and in the process ensure that its products are not threatened by substitute products (Marriott 29).

Key success factors

The company has transformed the hotel business in a number of ways. This has been done by delivering quality service to customers and guaranteeing high returns for shareholders.

It has demonstrated a high ability to combine creativity and discipline. This seems to be the hallmark of any high performing company or business in the hospitality industry (Spears 4). In other words, it can be said that the company has shaped the market well to advance its operations.

Just to show how successful the company is, its share price has been stable in recent years. This can be explained form the graph below.

Industry lifecycle

The hospitality industry has a very unique lifecycle. Products and services move through various stages. These include creation, growth, maturity and decline. Creation is where products are introduced in the market to be judged by customers.

Marriott hotels has been coming up with innovative products to serve the market well. Growth on the other hand is marked by an increase in sales of the new product that the company has introduced. This can be an increase in hotel bookings or growth of restaurants in terms of customers served.

Maturity is characterized by the stabilization of the hotels size and products. This can be in terms of employees or on the other hand stabilized sales. During this stage, companies are able to create a cash cow and in the process stabilize their operations.

Decline will later be seen when the organization starts to shrink in size. In this stage, efforts to rejuvenate the company and enhance its operations may fail. As a matter of fact, companies in the hospitality industry need to be creative and come up with new products after doing extensive market research.

Competitor Mapping

Competitor analysis in the hospitality industry is more concerned with an assessment of weaknesses and strengths of potential and current competitors in the market and industry (Porter 17).

In this way, through a strategic defensive and offensive approach, it should be able to come up with threats and opportunities (Lewis 13). The company has continued to thrive because of good strategic decisions and moves. All along, the company has combined a unique brand strategy as its success factor.

On they other hand, it has focused on employee training and retention. By focusing on other elements of performance anatomy, the company has created a good cooperate culture to enhance a winning mindset (Carpenter and Sanders 19). This has in the long run pervaded the organizational framework and helped Marriot achieve a spectacular performance.

In addition, it has also built a large portfolio of brands that have ended up providing a variety of lodging and hotel options to diverse and distinct customers. Its existing service oriented cooperate culture can also be said to be behind the company’s success. On the other hand, the company has put in place a good brand management initiative (Hunger 21).

High performance businesses in the hospitality industry manage talent well and ensure that hiring is for the fit rather than skills (Hubbard et al 24). By giving the whole process of franchising and management of hotels, this has enabled the company to remain competitive in the market and thereby enhance its sustainability.

As much as hotel management and franchising have been well done, the company has forgotten to offer increasingly deep discounts to attract a large number of customers. Because the market is getting saturated, the company has forgotten to build new full service hotels.

Position-evaluate

The company is currently franchising 50 to 60% of its hotel properties (Marriott 32). There is an improvement in the hospitality industry business climate. On the other hand, pricing has positively improved and this means that the company will continue getting good revenues (Lewis 16).

It is also evident that the company has continually out performed its competitors in the hospitality industry. This is in relation to key benchmarks like total returns to shareholders.

Source: Marriott 2010.

It therefore implies that the company has a great outlook and performance. This can be explained from the profits that it has continued to return as years go by. For instance, in the third quarter results of 2010, the company recorded increased earnings before taxes and expenses of $220 million (Marriott 45).

Although other competitors in the market are also performing well, the company seems to be ahead in terms of the general long term performance which is good in any industry and more so the hospitality industry.

On the other hand, the company is engaged in a massive expansion plan that seeks to increase its chains and market presence. Most of its hotels that are expected to open are either under construction or are undergoing massive rebranding to increase its foothold in the market. Currently, it is estimated that the company has close to 3,500 properties in 70 countries which explains its dominance as a hospitality firm (Marriott 53).

To ensure that it returns to the society well, the company has a good cooperate social responsibility program (Lewia 21). This can also be explained from the environmental award it received after being ranked position 42 as one of the greenest companies on the planet (Marriott 32). The company is currently a market leader in lodging development and operational excellence.

In 2008, the company was one of the top hospitality firms in travels and leisure according to the Ceres Investor coalition awards (Marriott 39).

The company can also pride itself as one of the companies with a high customer loyalty because of the returns it recorded even during the global financial crisis that greatly affected the hospitality industry (Spears 13). Generally, the company is in a great position to expand its business and grow further based on good strategies it has continued to employ for sustainability.

Trends

There is a big tension between expanding market boundaries and this will force the company to manage such through innovative brand strategies (Johnson and. Scholes 21). This will also force them to focus on operational and tactical execution to continue shaping the hospitality industry. Market trends are always changing and demanding that companies become more innovative and attentive to continue being competitive (Hassanien et al 27).

This will therefore force the company to improve the quality and speed of decision making. On the other hand, they are supposed to master the speed of change and innovation as it deserves special attention by all players in the hospitality industry for efficiency (Hunger 25). The macro and task environments are moving towards an era where companies need to view information technology as an asset (Okumas 29).

This will force the company to view information technology as part of its business strategy (Spears19). Global marketing trends are changing as people and companies use information technology to advance their interests. This means that the company will be forced to invest in information technology.

Consumers are more enlightened and knowledgeable about products that the market offers (Hubbard et al 32). This is because there is a lot of information about companies and their products. To be on the safe side, the company needs to invest in research and development to know what customers will demand at a given time and devise the best method to serve them.

Conclusion

Marriott has continued to be successful because it uses a selective scorecard. The company has continually used data to support decision making and also on the other hand measure success (Marriott 42). For instance, the company has always stood out in terms of employee engagement, brand recognition and customer satisfaction.

The company has also embraced IT to enhance innovation. This can be explained from the fact that it was one of the first companies to develop an inventory management system (Marriott 53). In addition, the chain of hotels is not afraid to embrace change in its operations in a bid to enhance its competitive edge in the market.

Works Cited

Carpenter, Andrew and Sanders, Gerald. Strategic Management: A Dynamic Perspective, Concepts and Cases. Australia: Pearson, 2010. Print.

Harris, Peter. Accounting and Finance for the International Hospitality Industry. Oxford; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1995. Print.

Hassanien, Ahmed, Dale Crispin and Clarke, Allan. Hospitality Business Development. Oxford: Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010. Print.

Hax, Arnoldo and Majluf, Nicolas. The Strategy Concept and Process: a pragmatic approach. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1996. Print.

Hubbard, Graham, Rice, John and Beamish, Paul. Strategic Management Thinking, Analysis, Action. Sydney: Pearson, 2008. Print.

Hunger, David. 2005. Strategic Management: Concepts. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 2005. Print.

Johnson, Gerry, Scholes, Kevan and Whittington, Richard. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005. Print.

Lewis, Robert.1998. Cases in Hospitality Strategy and Policy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Print.

Marriott., 2010. Marriott International Reports Third Quarter 2010 Results. Web.

Okumas, Fevzi, Altinay, Levent and Chathoth, Prakash. Strategic Management for Hospitality and Tourism. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010. Print.

Porter, Michael. The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. USA: Harvard, 2008. Print.

Spears, Marian. Foodservice Organizations: A Managerial and System Approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.