Hiller Case Study

2000 Words8 Pages
Human Resources as a Source of Competitive Advantage Human resources are catalysts to an organisation’s source of competitive advantage. Competitive advantage in terms of hotel industry refers to the advantage a hotel has over its competitors allowing it to generate more profit and win over more customers. In the case study Peter Green, the new general manager of Westward Hilton observed a traditional command and control style whereby employees were undervalued. Hence he wanted to turn this around by breaking the long tradition of division between the upper and lower hierarchy. Green came up with different strategies with the idea of creating a unique culture for Westward. He decided to implement a focus strategy, targeting frequent individual traveller and providing them with high quality service. Human resource approach was a primary element in creating such change. He believed that hotels should nurture a positive working experience for every employee, whereby a manager needs to be willing to do what he asks his staff to do. Under his governance he greatly influenced everyone to work together in providing the desired service and in return this allowed a positive operational and financial performance, adding distinctive value to customers. A family/business environment was fostered and a strong culture was formed which was not easy for competition to imitate. “The benefits of an effectively implemented talent management strategy include improved employee recruitment and retention rates and enhanced employee engagement” Hughes and Rog 2008, p743) Achieving sustainable advantage can only occur when competition cannot imitate what a hotel is doing. In Westward’s case most advantages can easily be imitated by competitors but to an extent. It all depends how far a hotel wants to go in realizing these imitations. For instance how many hotels will value and

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