Challenges Faced by Taj Hotel

What level of Expatriation will be required to meet Taj’s Operational needs and maintain their Heritage?

The Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces is one of the most renowned hotel chains in the Indian hotel industry (Tajhotels, 2017). The hotel comes under the possession of Tata Group. In the Middle East also TAJ Hotel has gained a significant presence by its well-known and prestigious hotel Taj Dubai. There are several challenges related to retention, selection and recruitment of employees which have been faced by the organization. The Dubai labor market has provided opportunities to Taj Dubai to have a safe and rapid development in terms of growth, success and workforce. The labor market of Dubai experienced a comibantion of expatriates as well as working Emiratis. Because of the presence of increased number of expatriates the labor market is considered as cheap as well as easy supply of labor is there. It has also resulted in availability of labor in squat wages. But the Emiratis as the domestic workers work on high wage structure only. There has also been regulating Emiratisation Law which restricts the employment of expatriates in the public as well as in private sector companies (Ministry of Human Resources & Emiratisation, 2016). This has also provided a benefit to the Emiratis to work only on high wages and salaries. But this creates several challenges for the organizations working in UAE. The report will focus upon the human resource issues faced by Taj Dubai, the approach used by Taj group in staffing, need of expatriation and various HR strategies to resolve and mitigate the issues prevailing in the Dubai operations.

Taj Dubai

Taj Dubai was established in the year 2015. The hotel is a beautiful blend of contemporary style, heritage and extravagance (Tajhotels, 2017). The hotel has been established in Dubai with one of the prime and most illustrious location i.e. Burj Khalifa. The hotel is doing enormously well. The main and the prime emphasis are led over maintenance of the Indian culture by serving in other nations. There are 296 rooms which provide the guest a luxurious and extraordinary experience of lavishness. The hotel provides a magnificent experience of Dubai culture with a fusion of Indian heritage. The points of attractions for Taj Dubai includes its eye catching location i.e. Burj Khalifa, a very short distance of 5 km from the Dubai mall and Downtown area. As well as the airport is just approximately nine miles away from the hotel (Tajhotels, 2017). Al these fascinate visitors, tourists and business associates to visit Taj Dubai.

Selection of HR Approach to Staffing

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Taj Dubai must adopt the ethnocentric approach in its operations. The prime reason behind selecting this staffing approach is that Taj group wants to have a mixture of cultures as well as wants to safeguard the Indian culture and heritage in its establishment at Dubai also. Therefore it will be best for the organization to take use of ethnocentric staffing approach instead of geocentric staffing approach. There are several benefits which are associated withy the ethnocentric approach other that the fusion of cultures. This includes effective communication, higher control and simple structuring.

Required level of Expatriation at Taj Dubai

There is an extensive need of expatriates for effective management of the operations of Taj Dubai. In present scenario every organization requires expatriates for managing their international chains or subsidiaries. In a similar way, Taj Dubai also has a need of expatriates for managing the functioning and operations. In case of Taj Group, the need of expatriates is high because of the fact that the o0reganizatiuon highly emphasized on maintaining the heritage. There are several advantages which the organization will achieve if they recruit high number of expatriates in the hotel management.

Cultural Integration

The main and the primary motive behind the employment of expatriates are to enhance the cultural integration. If there will be employees from the host as well as from the home and other overseas countries then it will result into enhanced cultural integration. In a hospitality industry it is great to have employees from various cultures so that they can efficiently take care of the customers coming from diverse cultural groups (Scielo, 2010).

Higher Flexibility

The employment of expatriates will result into greater organizational flexibility. In several situation if there are employees from a similar background then there are high chances of rigidity as they have a unity amongst them. But increased expatriates employment will provide the organization with greater amount of flexibility in operations as well as management.

Increased Commitment

Individuals from other countries have a higher commitment with the companies as they are usually residing in other nations to have employment opportunity. So the expatriates will serve the organization in a more committed manner.

Challenges Faced by Taj Hotel in Regards with Human resource

Recruitment, selection and retention are three primary and key areas from where all the human resource issues arise. Taj Dubai has also faced challenges in maintaining efficiency in these human resource areas. Following are the issues related to all these three key areas experienced by Taj Dubai:

Personal Factors and attitude of the employees

This is the prime factor which is responsible for the occurrence of issues in recruitment, selection and retention of the competent staff. The attitude of the individuals related to the job in a hospitality industry basically at the grass root level is not so positive which can attract them to become the employees of the organization. Thus the talented and the competent individuals do not appear for the employment opportunities offered by the organization. Another major factor which acts as the barricade is the personal factors (Stephenson and Ali-Knight, 2010). People of Middle East generally preferred doing white collar jobs and that too in government organizations. This leads to decrease number of domestic staff in the private companies. As well as the type of jobs also restricts individuals to apply for the same. In many situations individuals do apply for the jobs in the hospitality sector but as soon as they get any better opportunity they tends to leave the organization. This directly impacts the retention rate of the employees.

Feedback and Performance Appraisal

In most of the organizations in the UAE the actual and true feedbacks are not provided to the employees. As providing true feedbacks is taken as a negative comment over the self-esteem of the employees if the feedback is downbeat and unenthusiastic. The employees do not take the feedback in a constructive way and possesses a notion that their self-esteems have been damaged. This results into attrition of the talented and the competent employees. In the Middle East countries people give more importance to their self-esteem sin comparison with their jobs (Mellahi, Demirbag and Riddle, 2011). And so organizations are unable to give a correct and effective feedback which results into inefficient performance appraisal in the organization. In Taj Dubai the employees are provided with correct feedback and this leads to negative impact over the Emiratis employees and that results into high attrition rate.

Lack of Reward and Recognition

In present scenario the rewards and recognitions of the employees is considered as a major tool for retaining employees in an organization. The lack of rewards and recognition to the employees results into high employment turnover in the organization. This also leads to de-motivation of the employees. The de-motivated and low morale employees have a lower degree of productivity which ultimately results into organizational loss. All these have a direct impact over decreased retention of the employees in the organization. And therefore there are difficulties in selecting and retaining the talented staff in the organization (Arasli, Bavik and Ekiz, 2006).

Lack of Personal and Professional Advancement

Every individual as an employee demands for opportunities which can offer personal and professional development. The organizations that provide regular and extensive opportunities to the employees generally have high retention rates (Stephenson, 2014). But in Taj Dubai the employees do not found many opportunities for their personal and professional advancement. And this acts as the barricades for the individuals to associate with the organization. This results into on effective recruitment. The employees also leave the organization because of such issue. This has a major impact over the effective recruitment and retaining of the talented staff at the organization (Pforr and Hosie, 2009).

Ineffectiveness of Communication

The Taj Dubai is basically an Indian organization which has expanded in the regions of Middle East. But still there are several communication gaps among the people of Dubai and the expatriate. At the higher position there are more of expatriate and this develops a human resource issue at the organization. The Emiratis employees are not comfortable in discussing their issues and this develops a communication gap in the hotel (Randeree, 2009). This communication gap poses a negative impact over the employees’ retention and selection. Thus there is inappropriate selection of staff and decreased retention rate of the competent staff.

Pay Structure of the Organization

The pay structure is one of the primary issues in the recruitment, selection and retention of the employees. Generally the national individuals of Middle East countries demands high pay structure and the expatriate are ready to work at a low pay structure also. This creates diversity in the pays. The Taj Dubai foes not allow this inequity in the pays thus the pays is similar for the expatriates as well as for the Emiratis employees. And as a result the squat pay structure restricts the employees to apply for jobs. And the one which are already employed left the organization as soon as they get some better working opportunity (Ahmad and Daghfous, 2010). Therefore there arise issues in the recruitment, selection and retention of the talented staff.

Increased Number of Expatriates

To maintain the heritage culture and to have higher operational efficiency Taj Dubai has employed higher number of expatriates. This creates some cultural issues among the Emiratis employees (Naithani and Jha, 2009). The issues are related to culture, communication gaps, pay structure, diversity in norms etc. all these issues gives rise to decreased retention of the Emiratis employees. And thus there is less number of people willing to join the organization. There develops recruitment and retention problems in the organization (Forstenlechner, et al., 2012).

Job Insecurity

The international organizations have a high wage and salary structure for the individuals but at the same time they have a very less job security for the employees. The squat or decreased job security is one of the primary reasons for the employees to leave the organization getting employed in any government organization. The Emiratis as well as the other individuals always demands for a secured job so that they do not have to face any kind of issues after serving the organization for a very long period of time due to issues such as inflation, downfall of the economy. This develops a threat of job insecurity among the employees which results into higher attrition rate (Rutledge, et al., 2011).

HR strategies and solutions to Mitigate the Issues

There is a need of few effective HR strategies for resolving the above mentioned issues and challenges prevailing in the functioning of Taj Dubai. Following are few of those strategies which can help the organization in achieving better human resource management.

High Recognition and Rewards

 Top recruit and retain talented staff in the organization it is essential that Taj Dubai must restructure its rewards and recognition programs so that the morale and motivation of the employees can be boost and so they deliver increased productivity. If the efforts and hard work of the employees are rewarded as well as get recognized then it shows a positive impact over their performances as well as develops a sense of organizational commitment (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). This directly impacts their retention period in the organization.

Provide Extensive number of Development Opportunities

Every employee in an organization searches for opportunities which can provide them professional as well as personal advancement. It is required that Taj Dubai must provide the individuals with such opportunities. The greater the opportunities will be the more competent and skilled individuals will get associated with the organization (Nickson, 2013). The organization must also provide several benefits to the employees such as accommodation facilities, free pick up and drop services as well as free of cost meals. These additional benefits’ will enhance the employees’ commitment towards the organization. And so there will be proficient recruitment and increased retention of the employees.

Job Rotation

The employees are also discontented because of the cultural diversities among the employees. To have enhanced cultural integration in the hotel management it is required that there must be job rotation among the employees. This human resource strategy will benefit the organization in several ways. This will help in developing informal communication among the employees of diverse cultures or nation (P. Crick and Spencer, 2011). This will also support in building higher association among the employees which will result to improved workplace environment and increased retention rate.

Offer Trainings

To have great symmetry among the employees it is essential that all of them must get similar training and must be enrolled for parallel programs. There are few recognized training programs of Taj Group such as ‘Taj management training program’, HOMT i.e. Hotel operations management trainee program etc. these training programs provide base for the new employees to have an equal understanding of the work and organizational culture (Wong and Ko, 2009). This will help them resolving their issues and getting associated with the hotel for a longer time frame.

Providing higher Job Security

To retain the employees in the organization it is essential that the employees must have adequate job security. The threat of job security forces an employee to leave the organization. But if TAJ Dubai will provide an extensive job security to its employees then there are up surge chances that the employees will retain in the organization for longer time. This will ensure them they are a vital part of the organization and will not be detached easily (Hu, Horng and Sun, 2009).

Retention Management Programs

There is also a need of effective retention management program at the organization. This sort of programs helps the organization in retaining the employees as it helps in changing and improving the thoughts and view points of the employees in regards with organizational commitment. This gives an opportunity to the employees to attain greater employee engagement. And thus decrease the attrition rate of the employees (Hinkin and Tracey, 2010).

Conclusion

Taj Group is rapidly increasing its global presence in different overseas nations. The selection of Dubai is a potential expansion which can help the organization in achieving huge success and growth. From the above report it can be evaluated and analyzed that the Taj Dubai is doing very well in its operations. But still there is a need of improvement in its human resource management. There were several issues which have been identified in the HR operations of the hotel. These issues if not resolved may lead to extensive and deeper negative impacts over the organizational performance. The strategies provided for the resolution of issues and challenges will help Taj Dubai in attaining higher global recognition and success in its future operations. It can be concluded that if Taj Dubai adopts the ethnocentric approach and also have involvement of expatriates with the implementation of the mentioned Hr strategies then it may give constrictive results to the organization.

Recommendations

Following are few recommendations which can be offered to Taj Dubai for achieving improved productivity and raped achievements:

• The hotel must have regular programs on a monthly basis for having increased cultural integration. This will help in developing a sense of belongingness among all the employees.
• The involvement and employment of expatriates is a good decision but equal opportunities and authorities must be provided to all the employees regardless of their nationality and culture.
• The greater the perks are the higher is the efficiency in the performances. Hence it is suggested that the employees must get good incentives for their efforts and hard work (Wong and Ko, 2009).

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