Background

Discuss About The Competitiveness Into Economic Transforming.

Recreational and leisure activities are receiving attention like no others. This is mainly due to the reason that the average purchasing power of the major section of the population is increasing and they are spending more on holidaying. In addition, with the increase in income, the demand and wants of the customers are becoming more diverse in relation to their holiday. This is one of the major reasons behind the rapid growth of the tourism sector (Webster and Ivanov 2014). In relation to the boom in the global tourism industry, there are some tourist destinations being identified, which are attracting more tourists due to their location advantages and infrastructure.  Varna Bulgaria is one of the major cities in Bulgaria, which is attracting huge traffic of tourists due to its scenic beauty and strategic location. This is due to the reason that Varna is located in the gulf of Varna beside Black Sea coast. It is the most famous seaside resort in Bulgaria and contributes in the major tourist inflow to Bulgaria.

However, in the recent time, the competition is increasing in the tourism industry with the emergence of more number of tourist destinations in the Europe itself. This is also impacting the net inflow of the tourist in Bulgaria. According to the reports, the inflow of tourists in Bulgaria is steadily declining in the recent time. Thus, it is of urgent need to have favorable infrastructure in Bulgaria in order to retain the inflow of the tourists. The figure below shows the decline in the inflow of tourists in Bulgaria. It is seen in the below figure that, the first few months of 2018 is showing major decline in the inflow of tourist.

This report will discuss about the potentiality of the hotel business in Bulgaria and will determine the market potentiality for Paradise hotel, a proposed hotel in Varna, Bulgaria. This report will also discuss about the operational and human resource management approach to be followed in this organization.

Paradise hotel will be initiated as a boutique hotel in Varna, Bulgaria. Varna is one of the most famous tourist locations in the entire Europe. It is also chosen due to the fact that Varna is the most popular summer destinations in Bulgaria. However, hotel business in Bulgaria is highly competitive in nature with the presence of number of global and domestic brands (Ivanova and Ivanov 2014). Hence, it is important for paradise hotel to have distinctive approach in the market in order to stay ahead in the competition. One of the basic factors that should be considered in the hotel business is the quality of customer service. The more positive and favorable will be the customer service, the more will be the competitive advantages in the market. It is important for Paradise hotel to have effective policies of internal management including the strategies of human resource management. Having effective policies of human resource management in place will help paradise hotel to have positive internal environment and will ensure positive customer service.

Competition in the tourism industry

The following sections will further discuss about the approaches of human resource management to be followed in this organization in order to gain competitiveness in the market.

Initiation of the policies of human resource management should be in phased manner. This is due to the reason that there are various steps involved in the entire process of initiation of the human resource management policies. The first step is the recruitment and selection of the employees. According to Lamba and Choudhary (2013), recruitment and selection plays an important role in the process of the human resource management. This is due to the reason that selection of the right employees with right skill sets and in the right place is important to have effective internal management. The authors have also stated that having the right employees in place will help the organization to drive their business forward. For instance, if the employees in the hotel business are not having the knowledge of hospitality industry, then it will be difficult for the particular hotel to drive their future business even with having positive approach of the human resource management.

After the first step of having effective process of recruitment and selection, the next step involves is motivating the existing employees. This is also important due to the reason that productivity of the employees will be more only when they will be motivated and engaged in their workplace. According to Shahzadi, Javed, Pirzada, Nasreen and Khanam (2014), it is important for the business organizations especially for the hotel businesses to have effective policies of motivating their employees. According to them, the more effective will be the process of employee motivation; the more will be the level of engagement of the employees in their workplace. On the other hand, the authors have also stated that increase in the level of employee motivation will also ensure the increase in the job performance of them. This is mainly due to the reason that motivated employees will have more organizational commitment towards their workplace.

In the case of the hotel industry, having effective policies of employee motivation is having added significance. This is due to the fact that the more motivated and engaged will be the employees in the hotel industry, the more their provide quality service to the customers. As earlier discussed, providing quality customer service is one of the major considerations for the hotel industry and having motivated employees in place will ensure that.

Potential market for hotel business in Bulgaria

The next step involves the maintenance of the organizational culture. This defines the cultures and values being followed in the internal working environment of the organizations. This step is also important due to the reason effectiveness of the organizational culture also determine the productivity of the employees. As stated by Wiewiora, Trigunarsyah, Murphy and Coffey (2013), having positive and favorable organizational culture in place will ensure that internal management will be positive. They have also stated that having positive organizational culture in place also helps in knowledge sharing among the internal stakeholders. Thus, in the case of the hotel industry, effective process of sharing of knowledge among the peers will be beneficial in determining the issues in the primary stage and overcome them efficiently. In addition, another benefit that will be gained by the hotel industry from having positive organizational culture is enhanced job performance of the employees.

In the current business scenario, leadership is also having an important role to play in driving the organizational effectiveness and productivity. This is due to the reason that leaders are the one who will lead the internal stakeholders and the future probability of the business will be dependent on the visionary power of them. The previous discussed elements such as employee motivation and organizational culture are also determined by the effectiveness of the leadership approach being followed in the organization. According to Bolden (2016), leadership determines the organizational development. The more effective and efficient will be the approach of the leadership, the more effective will be the determination of the issues and requirement of the employees. Moreover, the approach of leadership followed in the organization also determines extent to which employees are having their opinion in the decision making process.

In the case of hotel industry, leadership roles will determine the effectiveness and productivity of the employees along with having positive organizational culture and process in place. This will in turn reflect in providing effective customer services. Having effective leadership roles in place will also ensure that issues related to the employees will be less originated. However, the authors have also stated that leadership styles are having different types and all these types are applicable in different situations. Thus, it is important for the businesses to initiate their leadership approach in accordance to their organizational environment.

Another important factor in the current business scenario is the skill set of the employees. Skill sets of the employees should also be enhanced in order to make them equipped to deal with the change in the business environment. In this case, initiation of the training and development program is the most effective form of enhancing the skill sets of the employees. According to Jehanzeb and Bashir (2013), initiation of the training and development program for the employees will help to have more skilled employees in place. This will increase the productivity of the employees along with increase in the productivity of the entire organization. It is also being stated by the authors that training and development activities will also help equip the employees to stay updated according to the current business requirement.

Human resource management approach for Paradise hotel

Thus, in the case of the hotel industry, initiation of the training and development for the employees will help to make them aware about the current requirements and standards in the hotel industry. They will be able to serve the customers better and at part to the industrial standard. Initiation of the training and development program will also ensure that employees will be more motivated to serve better to the customers, which will in turn enhance the service quality of the organization.

As discussed in the earlier section, recruitment and selection process is important for the business organizations in having right employees in right place. Thus, there are some strategies that should be maintained by the Paradise hotel in recruiting and selecting new employees.

The first step involved in recruiting the employees is determining the vacancy areas in the organization, expected skills and qualification from the candidates and job responsibilities. All these should be identified in the very first stage in order to prepare the job descriptions. Having proper job description in place will enable the potential candidates to apply for the job according to their qualifications.

The next step is communicating the job vacancies among the potential candidates. In this case, there are various mediums available for job advertisements. However, Paradise hotel will involve online job portals to communicate their vacancies to the potential candidates. In addition, advertisements should also be done through the social media in order to reach out to maximum number of potential candidates (Nikolaou 2014). The prime objective of involving diverse mediums in advertising the job vacancies is to increase the rate of applicants. The more will be the number of applicants, the more will be the talent pool to choose from.

The next step involves short listing the applicants based on the primary criterion and forward the selected ones to the next round. The next round will involve different assessment tests including personality test, psychometric test, aptitude test and personal interview. Personality test will be conducted in order to gain the brief idea about the personality of the selected candidates. This is important because in the hotel industry, personality of the employees especially for the frontline employees matters most. Based on the final personal interview, candidates will be finalized for the job.

However, all these steps will involve a good cost, which may have negative financial impact on Paradise hotel. Involvement of different mediums in communicating the job vacancies will have huge cost involved. Moreover, the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection process will not only get determined by the internal strategies of Paradise hotel but also by the external forces (Stoilkovska, IIieva and Gjakovski 2015). Some of the external forces are demography and education and training infrastructure of Bulgaria. This is due to the reason that if the demography of Bulgaria is more towards the older age, then the eligible talent pool will be less and vice versa.

Initiation of HR policies in a phased manner

After the selecting the employees in the organization, it is important to have proper policy to develop their skills and reduce the attrition rate. In the present time, due to having huge career opportunities, employees tend to change their organization more frequently. Moreover, Varna is having number of hotel businesses and thus, employees of Paradise hotel will have more options to switch their organization. Paradise hotel will follow some strategies in order to enhance the skill sets of the existing employees along with retaining them to the maximum.

The first step involves initiation of training and development program after every certain interval. This is important because the current scenario of the hotel industry is rapidly changing and the requirement and expectations of the customers are also changing (Sung and Choi 2014). Therefore, it is important for Paradise hotel to conduct periodical training and development program for their employees to make them aware and equipped in dealing with the changing business scenario. Various shortcomings of the employees can also be mitigated effectively with the initiation of the training and development program.

The next strategy involves the review process of the employee performance. Periodically conducting the performance review will help Paradise hotel to determine the issues and challenges faced by the employees. In accordance to that, mitigating steps can be initiated and the performance of the employees can be developed (Dusterhoff, Cunningham and MacGregor 2014). This strategy will also help in retaining the employees due to the reason that if the issues of them can be mitigated timely, then there will be fewer probabilities for the employees to change their jobs.

Offering best in the industry remuneration to the employees will also enhance the chance of the retaining them in the organization. This is due to the fact that majority of the employees change their job due to more compensation offered by other companies. Thus, Paradise hotel will always offer best in the industry salaries in order to retain them.

Another strategy that will be initiated by Paradise hotel in retaining the experienced employees is positive career growth option. The key objective of all the employees is to have career growth in their workplace. A good section of the employees switch their job when they find no career in their present workplace. Thus, Paradise hotel will have standardized career growth plan for all of their employees. They will get promoted according to their experience and performance. This will restrict them from switching to other companies.

Recruitment and selection

The previous sections in the literature review already discussed about the importance of having motivated employees in the organization. In accordance to that, Paradise hotel will also involve few strategies in order to enhance the level of motivation of the employees. One of the major strategies to be initiated is providing reward and recognition for the employees. Recognizing the contribution of the employees and rewarding them accordingly will help to motivate the employees (Presslee, Vance and Webb 2013). According to the Herzberg’s two factors theory, there are some elements such as job recognition, career growth, and involvement of the employees in the decision making process and reward helps in motivating the employees. Thus, Paradise hotel will implement the Herzberg’s tow factor theory in their internal organization in order to motivate the employees (Yusoff, Kian and Idris 2013).

However, it may be difficult for them to motivate the employees with singular approach due to the fact that all the employees may not get motivated with same factors. For instance, there are some employees who will be motivated by having financial rewards and recognition of their jobs. On the other hand, some other employees will not get motivated with having financial rewards. They may get more motivated with having proper work life balance in their workplace. Therefore, it will be difficult for Paradise hotel to have effective approach of motivating their employees.

In having a strong corporate culture in the organization, Paradise hotel will have standardized organizational value and standards for their entire internal stakeholders. This will help them maintain a singular approach in their internal management. Involvement of all the stakeholders ranging from the upper level management to the lower level employees in the common organizational standards will ensure that the corporate culture will be positive (Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales 2015). Corporate culture is also very much dependent on the leadership styles followed in the organization. Thus, the leadership approach will be designed as situational in order to have the flexibility in changing the leadership styles according to the situation.

However, building a strong corporate culture will have various limitations for Paradise hotel. This is due to the reason that Paradise hotel will have diversified workforce in place. Thus, having employees from different cultural and social backgrounds will be difficult to bind in standardized corporate process in the organization (Downey et al. 2015). Employees from different social and cultural background will have different considerations and requirements, which may not get fulfilled by having standardized corporate culture. With the change in time, the requirement and expectation of the employees will also change. Thus, it is also important for Paradise hotel to change the approach of their corporate culture periodically in order to match up with the change in the business scenario.

Employee motivation

Paradise hotel may face issue in initiating the ideal approach of leadership in their organization. This is due to the reason that there are various styles of leadership initiated by different organizations based on their external environment. However, in the recent time, Paradise hotel will face more diverse business scenario and thus, having single approach of leadership will not be beneficial for them (Keskes 2014). Thus, it is also one of the key issues to be faced by Paradise hotel. For instance, having transformational leadership will help Paradise hotel to have positive internal environment but it will also reduce the control of the upper level management over the employees. Thus, choosing the most effective style or approach of the leadership will be difficult for Paradise hotel.

The current business scenario demands diverse characteristics from the potential leader due to the fact that contemporary leadership roles are being played considering different complex factors. It is expected that the leaders will have the quality of the self awareness. This will help them to identify the strengths and weaknesses and work accordingly (Josiah Arnatt and Beyerlein 2014). Moreover, having the quality of self awareness among the leaders will also enable them to work on the negative factors and improve them. On the other hand, another important characteristic for the potential leaders is the managerial skills. This is also important because a good and ideal leader will be able to manage the business complexities and the organizational stakeholders. In the case of Paradise hotel, leaders should also have idea and experience about the hotel industry trends and growth forecast. The more experienced they will be in the hotel industry, the more efficiently they will be able to deal with the organizational challenges and lead the organization properly.

Basic accommodation facilities	Paradise hotel will offer their core service, which is providing four star accommodation facilities for the tourists.
Restaurant	Restaurants will also be there, which will offer different cuisines to the tourists. However, there will be total three restaurants catering to different set of customers with different cuisines. On the other hand, fast food counter will also be there to offer the customers with authentic local cuisines.
Recreational activities	There are various recreational activities will be initiated by Paradise hotel as their augmented service. This will include both indoor and outdoor activities. The key objective of offering these services is to entertain and engage the visitors. These entertainment activities will also ensure the enhanced satisfaction level of the customers.

 

Monitoring and evaluation process will also be initiated in order to judge the proposed activities. Key performance indicators will be used in order to judge the effectiveness of the above mentioned activities against the set benchmarks. The following sections will discuss about the key performance indicators that will be used.

• Customer turnover will be one of the key performance indicators. This will be used to gauge the revenue generated from the customers (Han, Bonn and Cho 2016). The more will be the revenue, the less will be the requirement of changing the existing activities and vice versa.
• Customer feedback will also be generated in order to determine the feedback and opinion from them. This will help to identify the areas of improvement and the shortcomings. Moreover, determination of the customer feedback will also help to identify the quality of the service delivery.
• Employees will be given quarterly target in relation to their job profiles. This will help to identify issues with the performance of the employees. The set target will be used as benchmark in judging the performance of the employees.
• Industry standard will also be used as benchmark to evaluate the service standard of Paradise hotel. Thus, they will determine the service quality of the leading competitors in the same industry and modify their offerings accordingly. Thus, this will enable Paradise hotel to have the standard of their service at par to the industry standard.

• It is recommended that Paradise hotel should first involve the third party recruitment agencies for their recruitment and selection process. This is due to the reason that huge cost and complication will be involved in this process. On the other hand, Paradise hotel is having no experience in recruiting the right employees. Thus, involvement of the third party recruitment agencies will make sure that right employees will be sleeted with having right selection process. In addition, Paradise hotel will have to take fewer responsibilities in this case.
• It is also recommended to them that the career growth plan should be well communicated to the potential candidates at the time of the final round of interview. This is due to the reason that not every employee will be motivated by the particular approach of career growth plan of Paradise hotel. In that case, communicating the career growth plan will help to select the employees who will be comfortable with the organization. This will ensure that Paradise hotel will have only those employees who will get motivated with their career growth plan.
• Diversity management should be initiated in the organization. This will help them to effectively manage the diverse workforce in the organization (Baker and Kelan 2015). Employees should be given training about the advantages of having diversity in the workforce. In addition, cross cultural teams should be initiated in the organization in order to increase the relationship between the employees from different social and cultural groups.
• It is also being recommended to Paradise hotel that they should have situational leadership in place. This is recommended due to the reason that initiation of both democratic and automatic style of leadership will have their merits and demerits. Moreover, these approaches are also not applicable in different situations. In this case, situational style of leadership will help in having flexibility in the leadership roles to change the approach according to the situation faced.

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