Reference no: EM132602644

Located in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, Be Our Guest Family Resort (BOGFR) was recently sold to a French international hotel chain. Previously, BOGFR (fictitious name) had been a family-owned business, and the owners treated all employees like an extended family. BOGFR is well-known for its friendly, top-notch accommodations. In the summer and fall, BOGFR offers families a variety of outdoor activities, including six tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, a lake for boating and fishing, an indoor/outdoor pool, and horseback riding. During the winter and spring, downhill and cross-country skiing are the outdoor activities of choice at BOGFR. Other activities available throughout the year include bowling, shopping, and an onsite movie theater. BOGFR also has four restaurants and a tavern.

Because BOGFR provides many amenities, it has a large year-round staff, many of whom have worked for the company for 15 years or more. In fact, BOGFR often hired members from multiple generations of the same family. BOGFR has a focused mission that is made clear to all its employees-to provide a premium vacation experience to all who come to BOGFR. This means that the customer comes first. Employees are asked to do all they can to keep customer satisfaction high and fulfill BOGFR's mission. This focus encourages customers to schedule return visits to BOGFR, and also to tell their friends about their vacations at BOGFR. Upon check-out, employees always ask guests to use social media and tell others about their positive experiences. BOGFR employees know that their town relies almost exclusively on the tourism generated by the resort, because few other substantial businesses are located in the immediate area.

BOGFR has a "home-grown" mentality regarding the advancement of its human resources. Many of the hotel and restaurant managers grew up working summers as valets, house cleaners, and wait staff. This human resource policy reflected the "small town" and family atmosphere of the BOGFR. This policy also allowed the employees to have a variety of work experiences, and to learn first-hand what customers expect from a top-of-the-line resort. Many children of BOGFR employees attend a local university that has a hotel administration major. This education allows the young adults to come back to their hometown to work. Yet, the acquisition of BOGFR by an international concern will soon cause its human resource policies to change.

The Mansion Corporation (fictitious name), a well-known hotel and restaurant corporation, has recently purchased BOGFR. The Mansion's human resource strategies are dramatically different from those of BOGFR. The Mansion attracts "star" quality employees from other hotels around the world and provides them with high-level administrative positions. These positions may be offered at any one of a number of the Mansion's resort holdings. The Mansion is generous with offers of relocation packages to lure potential employees away from their current employer.

The Mansion's policy regarding human resource selection is more of the "buy" than the "make" approach. The Mansion fills its skill gaps by hiring needed personnel from outside the company. In fact, the Mansion has recently hired a CFO and chief technologist from competitors. Both employees and their families moved from the United States to the Mansion's European headquarters in Paris, France. Many of the hotel's general managers are from either top hotels or premier restaurant chains. The general premise under which Mansion operates is that it is more cost-efficient to bring in the "best and the brightest."

This allows the Mansion to hire the skills it needs when and where it may need those skills. The Mansion plans to make this policy known to BOGFR's personnel as part of their Introduction to the Mansion's Human Resources Policies package. The Mansion corporate policies become effective in a few weeks. The Mansion does not intend to discuss the effect of this policy with BOGFR's employees unless asked.

Case Analysis Questions:

-What effect, if any, will the Mansion's policies have on current BOGFR personnel?

-What effect, if any, will the Mansion's policies have on the business strategies of BOGFR?

-How should the Mansion implement this new policy change at BOGFR? How might the Mansion communicate this policy change? What types of career management systems are most compatible with the Mansion's human resource strategy?

-If you were an employee of the BOGFR community, what might you do in light of this human resource policy change? What effect would the international nature of Mansion have on you?