The Portman Hotel Company

1
The Portman Hotel Company

• A Study in Motivation Performance
• Group Members
• Paul Bennett
• Mohammad Borougerdi
• Naushad Hariyani
• Tarannum Kanjiyani
• Kaian Tam
• Josephine Yuan

2
Background Information

• The Portman Hotel - brainchild of John C.
  Portman, Jr.
• Portman was well known for creativity and
  innovation
• Success in atrium style hotels
• Bonaventure Hotel of Los Angeles
• Renaissance Center of Detroit

3
The Portman Hotel

• The Hotels format would draw from foreign hotels
• 348 rooms
• 21 floors
• Described as contemporary with Asian accents
• The revolutionary guest services were common in
  Asia
• Portman - breakthrough in hotels
• Personal Valets - heart of this unique hotel

4
Implementation Difficulties

• Too much confidence placed on the individual
  managerial skills of PVs
• Overwhelming latitude of duties for the PVs
• Management not prepared for American response to
  such elaborate guest services
• What is one thing that makes you want to return
  to a hotel?

5
Labor Force in Two CulturesAmerican vs. Asian

• Three main topics
• Cost
• Training
• Labor Regulation

6
Cost

• American
• More Expensive

• Asian
• Less Expensive

7
Training and Recruitment

• Asian
• Embedded in the culture

• American
• SRI (hiring firm)

8
Labor Regulations

• American
• Unions

• Asian
• No Control

9
How can the PVs job description at the Portman
Hotel be compared to a typical American luxury
hotel?
10
Typical American Hotel Vs. Portman Hotel
Broad Job Description
Narrow Job Description
11
Typical American Hotel vs. Portman Hotel

• Typical organized by job specialty (Narrow)
• Maids
• Bar boy
• Houseman
• Cleaners
• Maintenance Staff

• PV job have many specialties (Broad)
• PV
• PV
• PV
• PV
• PV

12
What is the Portman Hotel business model and what
was the personal valet arrangement trying to
accomplish?
13
Portman Business Model

• To bring Asian standards of hospitality to the
  US
• Revolution in guest service in the American
  luxury market
• Personal valets
• High quality service at affordable rates.
• No rules for the guests
• Experience
• Home away from Home
• Office away from Office.

14
(No Transcript)
15
Portman HR System

• How were the key features of the HR system
  supposed to function? What culture values were
  emphasized?
• What was the expected outcome and the result of
  each of the HR features?

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Why wasnt the original system working?

• What were the problems faced?

24
Problems

• Asian service philosophy
• Turnover high, 16 in initial months
• Tips
• Exp 200
• Act 40
• Dissatisfied with Job Content
• Exp 50 cleaning 50 guest service
• Act 80 cleaning 20 guest service
• Tensions with other group of workers
• PVs looked upon as maids
• PVs felt porters were slow in response

25
Reasons

• Asian service philosophy Complex New
• Turnover high, 16 in initial months Some
  fired, most left due to disorganized work culture
• Tips American traveler not ready for this type
  of service. Low occupancy
• Dissatisfied with Job Content Multitasking
• Tensions with other group of workersLack of
  supervision, decentralized work

26
(No Transcript)
27
Managerial Problem

• Low Employee Motivation
• Definition of Motivation
• It is those forces that energize, direct and
  sustain a persons efforts
• Reinforcement
• Positive - tips, incentives
• Negative - strict action, warning

28
(No Transcript)
29
5 Star Team Plan

• 15 groups of 5 PVs each
• 1 team on each floor
• Guaranteed hours of work per week
• Increase in productivity from 5 rooms to 7
• What improvements were experienced after the 5
  star system was implemented? Did it work?

30
5 Star Plan

• Initially it worked but problems started again
• Introduction of floaters
• Pooling tips became difficult
• PVs and Floaters Conflicts
• Team loyalty was lost
• Floaters were lethargic in service
• Scotts laid back attitude
• Lack of supervision
• Fear of unions among management

31
Summary of the System Problem
Low Occupancy
Implementation of floaters
Disrupt team system
PVs had to cover others work
More errors occurred
Increase in guest complaints
Low Motivation
No tips
No satisfaction
32
How do you motivate your employees?How have
you been motivated to perform?
33
(No Transcript)
34
Designing motivating jobs

• Design your own organization around both
  intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivators that
  mattered to your people.
• Extrinsic rewards are those rewards given to
  people by a boss, a company, or some other
  person.
• Intrinsic rewards are those rewards the person
  derives directly from performing the job itself.
  
• Intrinsic rewards are essential to motivation
  underlying creativity

35
Three ways of designing jobs that can increase
intrinsic rewards and, therefore, motivation

• Job rotation - move workers from one task to
  another.
• Job enlargement - workers are given different
  tasks to do.
• Job enrichment - jobs are restructured or
  redesigned by adding higher levels of
  responsibility.

36
Herzbergs two-factor theory Hygiene Factors
and Motivators

• Although Herzberbs theory has been criticized
  by many scholars, it still contributes some
  important points
• Important distinction between extrinsic rewards
  and intrinsic rewards
• Reminds managers NOT to count solely on extrinsic
  rewards - focus on intrinsic rewards as well

37
(No Transcript)
38

• What steps (in regard to implementation) would
  you take to bring about improvement for Portman
  Hotel?

39
Our Suggestions

• Step 1
• Make communication more effective
• Step 2
• Provide a complete training program
• Step 3
• Establish fairness
• Step 4
• Give employees recognition for
  accomplishments

40
Hackman and Oldham Model of Job Design

• Well-designed jobs lead to high motivation,
  high-quality performance, high satisfaction, and
  low absenteeism and turnover. These outcomes are
  the result of
• Meaningful Work
• Responsibility
• Performance

41
Hackman and Oldham Model of Job Design

• This critical psychological state is produced by
  five core job dimensions
• Skill variety different job activities
  involving several skills and talents
• Task identity the completion of a whole,
  identifiable piece of work
• Task significance an important, positive impact
  on the lives of others
• Autonomy independence and discretion in making
  decisions
• Feedback information about job performance

42
Hows the PV job in Portman Hotel compared to the
Hackman and Oldham Model?
43
Hackman and Oldham Model
44
Hackman and Oldham Model
45
(No Transcript)
46
What Happened Next?

• By the end of the case reading, the Portman Hotel
  was beginning to take off
• Occupancy went dramatically up
• The Team Captain success
• Since late 1980s, Hotels history marred by
  trials and tribulations

47
Loma Prieta Earthquake

• Occurred on October 17, 1989
• Caused severe damage to the San Francisco Bay
  area
• As a result, occupancy dropped significantly

48
Tax Laws

• The Portman Hotel was affected greatly by a major
  change in tax laws
• The Portman was force to sell many of its assets
  in order to manage its finances
• Consequently, the Portman Hotel evolved into the
  San Francisco Pan Pacific

49
Marriotts Acquisition

• JW Marriot purchased the hotel from Pan Pacific
  on April 19, 2006
• JW Marriott San Francisco

50
A View into the JW Marriott San Francisco

• Time for a Video!