MGM Grand Hotel Industry - Term Paper Example

? Analysis of the MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel Table of Contents Introduction 2 History 2 Strategy 3 Market position 4 Compensation and Recognition Programs 5 Key Employee Behaviors 6 KSA required achieving organization’s objectives 6 Technology Considerations 8 Legal Environment 8 Recommendations 9 Conclusion 9 References 11 Introduction Hotel industry is such an industry that has extreme competition. The growth of the hotel industry’s market share comes at the expense of the competitor (Martinez, 2005). The competition in the United States is pretty high in the hotel industry. In this report an HR analysis is done of MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel. MGM Grand Hotel is situated on Las Vegas Strip in Nevada and is one of the largest hotels in the world. The hotel consists of more than 5000 rooms and suits for guests in four thirty storey towers, world class gourmet restaurants, 27000 square feet pool complex, Grand Spa, casino, clubs, etc. Different parts of the hotel have different themes, food courts, restraints, entertainment lounge etc. (Jay & Dwi, 2000). The hotel is set up on an area of 33 acres. MGM Grand Las Vegas most commonly offers accommodation services but in addition to this the hotel also serves as a venue for different shows, events and concerts. Moreover, MGM grand hotel incorporates pool parties, night clubs, shopping outlets, wedding chapel etc. History In the 60’s a group of properties started as MGM Resorts International under Kirk Kerkorian’s leadership. After the grand opening of paradise hotel in early 1970s the second hotel was built in Las Vegas named MGM Grand Las Vegas. Both the hotels were the world’s largest hotels at that time. MGM Grand Las Vegas was opened in 1993 for the first time. The hotel turned to be the largest hotel in the United States with over 5000 guest rooms. At the opening of MGM Grand the biggest intention was the creation of first hotel in Las Vegas that includes the Theme Park MGM Grand adventures behind casino. The objective behind this hotel was providing a friendly and family oriented atmosphere where all the family members could enjoy different activities except the casinos. Strategy A strategy that a company sets and adopts to achieve its desired business objectives and goals are known as business strategy. The strategies adopted by MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel are discussed ahead. Competitive strategies are associated with the business strategies in a way to develop a competitive edge for an organization. MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel has potential business strategies to predict the expectations of the customer most accurately and make them satisfied with creativity. Product differentiation is one of the most unique competitive strategies that MGM Grand uses. One of the examples of this strategy is the introduction of M Life Payers Club in 2010. This club is basically a customer reward club where customers can earn points by shopping and using other services of the hotel and then use those points for other experiences like concerts, food etc. To compliment the services activities the hotel uses marketing and sales strategies (Alan, 2007). The unique communication platforms used by the hotel and the entertainment attractions has helped the hotel win a competitive advantage. The hotel uses strategies to stay ahead of competition. The various strategies adopted by MGM Grand have helped the hotel grow and expand to different countries. In 2006 MGM Grand Las Vegas focused on the extension of its brand into hotels subsidiary named MGM Hospitality. MGM hospitality is held responsible for the outsourcing of gaming and non-gaming both type of investments and the management opportunities. The opening of Grand Macau in China is another example of this. These investments helped in accumulating almost one billion dollars of capital in the same year. Market position The ability to establish a unique position in the mind of the customer by delivering benefits and unique features is known as the determinant for the organizations position in the market (Woods, Robert, Johanson, Misty, Sciarini & Michael 2012). The major competitors to MGM Grand hotel are Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Boyd Gaming Corporation, and Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The expansion of MGM Grand Hotel into various lines of services is due to the high competition level in the tourist industry. Initially MGM was formed to just cater the requirements of international and leisure travelers in the United States but now the company has several branches in different countries. The outstanding services at MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel have helped the hotel earn as one of the best luxurious services provider in the world. The company focuses on providing a refined, distinctive, relax, hospitable atmosphere while it delivers services to its customers. This helps the company in enhancing its position in such a highly competitive hotel and leisure industry. MGM not only provides the best services but also the best memories to all its guests and this has helped the hotel win a competitive advantage over its competitors in the United States. In relation to customer services the performance of MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel has been continually increasing. The awareness of the hotel, image improvement, customer loyalty enhancement, attraction of new customers have all been possible due to a number of successful and regular innovations and renovations (Walker, 2013). MGM has been able to establish a unique and distinctive position in the mind of the customers by deliverance of various features and benefits to its customers. Creativity has always been a major weapon for the hotel to win a competitive advantage over its competitors and occupy a strong position in the market. Compensation and Recognition Programs MGM Grand Las Vegas has various employee events and recognition programs that identify and then reward the employees that are outstanding. The employees are expected to show high commitment towards the mission statement, core standards of service, brand values and core values of the hotel while they serve and interact with the guests (Armstrong, 1992). The performance is measured against the standards set internally and the company officials clearly understand the importance of an effective recognition and compensation package that is most valued by the internal customers that are the employees. The company tries and set a fair, transparent and consistent compensation package. The basic aim of the hotel for having such a recognition program is to encourage the employees towards the achievement of the goals of the hotel and help improve their performance that would ultimately improve the hotel’s performance. Moreover the hotel aims at recognizing the employees who work better in teams and have more contributions toward the quality provision (Dessler, 2013). The hotel promotes a motivational environment for a better customer service. By this recognition program the management gets a chance to enhance develop and maintain the culture of the hotel and improve the service. The recruitment and retention of most suitable employees becomes much easier with this program as it plays a very important role in winning a competitive edge. The turnover rate for hospitality industry is generally 49 percent but for MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel it is as low as 11.4 percent. This is due to the hotel’s excellent compensation and recognition program. There are various awards that are presented to employees on yearly quarterly and daily basis. The various events that MGM has to recognize its employees are talent shows, fun events in summers, star of the month luncheons, diversity events, patriotic celebrations, employee of the Year galas, book and jewelry fairs etc. Key Employee Behaviors According to the top management at MGM it has been stated that the happy and motivated workforce is one of the biggest differentiators that has helped MGM in becoming the most successful business in the hotel industry. MGM has recognized the importance of the alignment of employee recognition with the core goals of the business (Dreher & Dougherty, 2002). The value of consistently measuring employee recognition, commitment from senior management, continual evaluation, employee involvement and the respect for every individual has been recognized by MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel. KSA required achieving organization’s objectives In the hotel business it is all about how competent your people are in terms of qualities they possess. The level of quality that the employee is likely to produce is greatly dependent on the qualities that he or she possesses. The qualities base around the knowledge, skills, thoughts, abilities that are greatly influencing the survival of the hotel and its development. Here it is very important to mention that staff training is one very significant thing that can increase the productivity of the employees with experience, knowledge, skills etc. (Malhotra & Birks2007). Staff training inspires and motivates the employees to be at their best at work and help them in recognizing the worth of their job. Training and development is one of the key instruments when it comes to the implementation of the policies and practices related to HRM. MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel includes staff training as its significant development strategy. The hotel hires staff based on two things one is either the experienced employees are hired or the employees that are hired are provided the related training (Decenzo and Robbins, 2006). The type of hiring depends on the sensitivity of the post the employee is being hired for. Team spirit is built amongst the employees by the provision of training, accurate specifications of work etc. The hotel can suffer a high turnover rate if it stops providing training to its staff. The match between the correct leadership and team possessing the right skills is the most critical thing when it comes to leisure and hospitality industry. The top management of MGM Grand always keeps on coming up with ideas and strategies to attract the top and most suitable talent for their hotel.   The leisure and hospitality industry wants to introduce innovative thinking as they intend to build up potential in the emerging channels. The direct marketing channels and the structure of customer relationship management is transforming as the customers obtain information and do the transactional executions over internet and through cell phones. MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel has specialized people who deal with promote and build businesses through digital media. MGM Grand Hotel has a number of programs that help employees to enhance their skills that are required on the job. These programs are specially designed to assist the employees in developing their leadership and management skills. A program named MGM Grand’s REACH is a six month extensive training program that helps the first level management to develop leadership skills. Technology Considerations MGM Grand has installed a system named Mtech’s Hotel Service Optimization system that helps the hotel in providing better services to the guests. The quality of service to be made available to the guests is the most important thing for the hotel. The system installed by the hotel provides an internet based service that connects the service staff to the guests and to each other. This new system installation has helped in producing greater satisfaction levels amongst the customers of the hotel. Through this system the customer can benefit by reporting the issues related to the room, putting forward the request, automated and streamlined workflows. Legal Environment In the hospitality industry the legal environment requirement includes things like the rationalization of raw material use that includes energy and water. Reduction in the wastes’ volume and improvement in the management of waste, adoption of a better ecological policy for purchasing and logistics, improvement in the quality of internal environment of the hotel and awareness amongst staff about the importance of the environmental issues are all the things that MGM Grand keeps in mind. Recommendations The demand for the hospitality industry is ever increasing so the competition is growing day by day. So in such a competitive environment it is very important for MGM Grand to keep a strict check on what its competitors are up to and keep on introducing new technology to satisfy the customers to the maximum level possible. It is strongly recommended that the hotel keeps on spending on training its staff, their cleanliness, and their well being as they are the representatives of the hotel itself. The company has been sending a lot on the training and recognition programs of its employees which have been a key to its success. The company while hiring new employees should keep a few qualities in mind that are the attitude of the employee, their appearance, their friendly nature, confidence, hygiene, willingness to work etc as all these qualities will ultimately contribute towards his or her better performance. It is very important for MGM Grand Hotel to treat their internal employees the way the company wants to treat their external employees that are the guests basically. Conclusion The performance of MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel has improved since its establishment. The company has focused critically on satisfying its internal and external employees. To serve this purpose the company has focused on developing a good recruitment and selection system, attractive compensation package, time to time training programs, development programs, fair appraisal processes, equal opportunity for every employee to get promotion etc. To gain competitive advantage, MGM Grand Las Vegas has been operating its properties with a stress on delivering brilliant customer services. The hotel shows strong commitment towards recruiting, training, retaining well qualified, motivated employees who are likely to provide friendly and superior customer services. The hotel is likely to enjoy the strong position in the market as it has never compromised on quality. The customers are not only in search of a good environment to live in but also a hospitable staff to take care of them. MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel should feel proud for having all the qualities that are necessary to satisfy the customers form all round the globe. ReferencesTop of Form Price, A. (2007). Human resource management in a business context. London: Thomson.Bottom of FormTop of Form Armstrong, M. (1992). Human resource management: Strategy & action. London: Kogan Page. Bottom of Form Malhotra, N. K., & Birks, D. F. (2007). Marketing research: An applied approach. Harlow: Prentice Hall/Financial Times Top of Form DeCenzo, D. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2005). Fundamentals of human resource management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Bottom of Form Top of Form Dessler, G. (2013). A framework for human resource management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.Bottom of Form .Jay, K., & Dwi, S. (January 01, 2000). Customer loyalty in the hotel industry: the role of customer satisfaction and image. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12, 6, 346-351. Top of Form Walker, J. R. (2013). Introduction to hospitality management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Bottom of Form Top of Form Dreher, G. F., & Dougherty, T. W. 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