Reality-Based Education Assignment;Hilton hotel Houston
Order Instructions:
Reality-Based Education Assignment
Introduction
The purpose of the Reality-Based Education (RBE) assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to interview a working manager and learn about how course materials relate to everyday managerial work and the day to day operations of a company or organization.
The end result of this assignment is a paper that discusses and analyzes what you learned.
The RBE assignment involves either a telephone interview with or an in-person visit to an organization in the Houston area. It is recommended that you select an organization that you might be interested in working for someday.
Some suggested organizations are as follows:
Banks: J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Compass Bank
Hospitals: Methodist, St. Luke’s, Ben Taub, M.D. Anderson, Memorial Hermann
Energy: Conoco Phillips, Shell, Reliant Energy, Center Point Energy, Schlumberger, Halliburton
Hotels: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Retail: Men’s Warehouse, Stage Stores, Macy’s, Gap, Dillard’s, J.C. Penny; Nordstrom, Wal-Mart. Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Fiesta, HEB.
Technology: AT&T, Verizon, BMC Software, Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard.
Travel: United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta
Non-Profits: Houston Food Bank, Boy Scouts of America, United Way, American Heart Association.
Government: City of Houston, Harris County, Various city, state, federal, and county agencies.
You will research your chosen organization, visit the organization and/or interview the manager by telephone. Suggested kinds of interview questions are below:
1. What is the identified purpose or mission of the organization?
2. What does it produce? Or what kinds of goods or services does it provide?
3. What are key organizational characteristics (e.g., number of employees, etc..)?
4. Who are the organization’s main competitors? How does it differentiate itself?
5. Upper management of the organization – background, criteria for selection or promotion to these positions
6. Selection criteria of other employees – hiring policies, diversity policies, etc.
7. How organizational politics or other related external factors affect daily operations.
8. Type of organizational culture that prevails.
9. What is the key management concept that you studied in this organization (be specific and use terminology from the textbook) and describe how this concept is implemented, applied, or organized in this organization?
10. Anything else you find interesting, relevant, or important
In addition to discussing and analyzing items one though nine above, your paper must include the name, title, and contact information of the manager you interviewed.
Key Dates & Deliverables
Due date for paper: Sunday, December 7, 2014, via Blackboard.
Formatting
Your paper must be at least five pages long, double-spaced, with a twelve-point font and one-inch margins on each side. Cite your sources using the style of your choice (e.g., APA or MLA), and be sure to include a works cited page.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Chosen organization
Hilton hotel Houston is a glamorous piece of art and a place where utmost hospitality is a priority. Standing on a 24-storey building, Hilton hotel has been termed as largest convention hotel and is a place where every visitor wants to land. The four-diamond hotel offers refreshing experiences and is an ideal choice for corporate events and meetings. Under the management of Joseph Palmieri, Hilton hotel- Houston offers impressive hospitality services and exceptional management strategies that have placed it amongst the best hotels in America (Hilton-America’s Houston website, 2014).
Objective
To understand key management concepts of Hilton hotel-Houston
Literature review
Hilton hotel –Houston is an affiliate hotel of many Hilton America hotels. The bustling downtown of Houston is home to one of those luxurious affiliate hotels. Since 2003, when the hotel was built, it has done nothing short of offering excellent services through its food and beverage outlets and numerous hotel amenities. Other services available at the exclusive hotel are 1200 guest rooms, a spectacular appointed lobby featuring individual or more registration desk sections, a café, java jive, the lobby bar and gift shop. Executive staffed lounges, floor level rooms and technologically advanced spaces at 92000sq ft function in three floors (Hilton-America’s Houston website, 2014). The largest convention center measuring one million sq and a sky-walk connection are other features of the hotel. Wifi is available throughout as well as audio/visual for in house services. The restaurants, three ballrooms, skyline spa, infinity edge pool, health club, valet and space worth 1600 car parking garage are other stunning services offered by the hotel.
Guests have expressed great experiences of feeling valued and respected every time they visit Hilton hotel. The hotel has created a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and excellence to help team members become the best and develop their talents. Selecting and attracting the right talent at the right time is not a new phenomenon for Hilton hotel-Houston. The management of Hilton hotel strives to recruit people who share similar goals and passion for the organization as a hospitality institution. The hotel desires to further its staff careers while wile still being true to its vision and mission.
Research method
To learn more about Hilton hotel-Houston and the management of the organization the interview method was used.
Interview questions and responses
- How can you describe Hilton hotel Houston?
Hilton hotel is a hotel where hospitality is an art that never disappoints and is home to exceptional guest experiences.
- What is the mission and vision of this hotel?
Our hotel prides in the mission of being the preeminence of global hospitality while our vision is to give the world hospitality warmth.
- What are the values of this hotel?
Hospitality, leadership, integrity, teamwork, urgency and ownership are core values of Hilton hotel-Houston.
- Which organizational goals run the hotel?
To offer the best hospitality services through global talent management.
- Which hotels are major competitors of Hilton?
Five star hotels, Hyatt and Marriott are examples of Hilton’s competitors. Each of these hotels uses a unique strategy to market their hospitality and as a result have remained competitors to Hilton hotel.
- How does the upper management of the hotel function?
The upper management is divided into the general manager and a team of 15 hotel executives. The GM works with those executives as the head of the committee. He makes major decisions for the hotel. The directors are also supervise managers in other respective departments. For example, Janice O’Neill who was hired as the director of sales and marketing, supervises a sales team of another 12 managers (Hilton hotel website, 2014). The board and HRM take up the role of recruiting employees.
- What are the selection criteria for employees in this hotel?
Recruitment of employees is a selection criterion that Hilton hotel uses to appoint qualified and talented employees. The global websites, talent acquisition centers and university partnerships are used to facilitate the selection criteria. Once selected interviews are conducted leading to hiring the best candidates.
- Which type of culture prevails in this hotel?
The culture of hospitality and growth of talent prevails in Hilton hotel.
- What key management concept does Hilton hotel offer to learners or aspiring managers?
Management concepts like global talent management, engagement, diversity, health and youth opportunity are key to this hotel.
- How can those concepts be implemented, applied or organized?
Key management issues have been implemented through various ways in the hotel. According to Hilton worldwide (2014), global talent management, engagement and recognition, diversity and inclusion, health and well-being are some of the ways through which these concepts are applied.
Discussion and analysis
Global talent management is a concept that implies that the hotel only succeeds when its teams have resources needed to support their employees and help them serve their guests in the best way possible. Talent management is achieved through ongoing learning opportunities leading to professional and personal talent growth. To achieve this, Hilton encourages University study, cross-cultural training, use of another language and performance management.
Engagement and recognition is a concept that Hilton hotel uses to manage employees and make them feel valued. Team member engagement is crucial for feedback through a global annual survey, which leads to changes in the hotel’s policies. Through feedback, the management has been able to improve its performance assessment and make necessary adjustments. The recognition of team members happens through giving rewards and incentives to active team members who are a fundamental part of the hotel. The recognition of leaders, managers and team members is a great way of improving the hotel’s image. Hilton hotel-Houston is proud to be associated with a general manager who is recognized for his outstanding achievements globally. Hotelier Joe, who has not even completed a decade since being recruited to the hotel recently was awarded for his efforts. He received the first organization’s award as the general manager of the year for exceptional managerial skills.
Diversity and inclusion are other key concepts for Hilton hotel’s management. Having many branches across the globe has opened doors for Hilton hotel to meet people from different cultures and diverse populations. Hilton hotels embrace diversity and view it as a stronghold for their organization. It thus is no wonder that Hilton hotel has recruited employees from across the globe. It includes all people as long as they share in the vision and have the talent to deal with the hospitality business (Hilton worldwide, 2014).
Health and well-being are core elements for the hotel business. As a result, the management believes in promoting health and wellness for team members. It is crucial for performance and service delivery as ailing employees cannot be productive. To ensure that health and well-being prevails in the organization, certain strategies have been employed by the management. Health benefits packages and sick leaves are given to team members who feel unwell. Health and wellness activities are also in place with the fitness day as a major event for the hotel. The hotel collaborates with health care providers to promote health and wellness activities and themes. Flexible work arrangements have also been made as a way of showing support for work life and other activities balance. Apart from the team members, the family of employees and staff enjoy health and wellness programs from the hotel. Through family travel programs, families unite and get to spend time with their loved ones occasionally.
In conclusion, Hilton hotel-Houston has exceptional management skills and is an incredible example of what good management can do to a hotel. Apart from Joe, showing his managerial prowess in the hotel business, he has also promoted sustenance of the environment in and outside the hotel. The green seal achievement award did not come as a surprise to Hilton hotel though it was the first in the state. The management of the hotel has ensured that it is not only about luxury and refreshments but has also taken initiative to conserve the environment and encourage the guests to do the same.
Contact information of the manager
1600 Lamar, Houston, Texas, United States 77010
Tel: 1-713-739-8000 • Fax: 1-713-739-8007
Key dates and deliverables
This interview was conducted on 4.Dec.14
Its deliverables included gaining great knowledge on management of a hotel organization. The mission and vision of the hotel as well as its culture were found to be useful components in management of the organization. Besides that, key concepts of management that made the organization stand out from the rest were also very useful.
References
Hilton-America’s Houston (2014). About Hilton Hotel, website retrieved from http://www.hiltonamericashouston.com/business-services.html
Hilton worldwide (2014). Key initiatives. Retrieved from http://cr.hiltonworldwide.com/opportunities/progress.php#/approach-accordion/health-wellBeing
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
