Study on the management structure of Shangri—La Hotel

張鳳婷

【Abstract】Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts is one of the leading and fastest growing luxury hotel groups based in Asia pacific region and is a consistently award-winning hotel group. This study will introduce Shangri-Las background and its management structure. Then Human resource functions will be discussed.

【Key words】Shangri-la Hotels； Human resource； management structure

1. Background

The group includes Shangri-La City Hotels， Shangri-La Resort， Traders Hotels， and Chi， which contains 66 hotels and resorts with representing a rooms inventory of over 28， 000 throughout Asia Pacific， North America and the Middle East regions， as well as some new under development of hotels in Australia， Canada， mainland China， France， India， Macau， Philippines， Qatar， Seychelles， United Kingdom and the United States. Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts target on business and leisure markets， with its philosophy ‘Shangri-La hospitality from caring people， the mission of ‘delighting customers each and every time， the vision of ‘the first choice for our customers， employees， shareholders and business partners.” And the goal is expanding the Shangri-La brand globally.

A Shangri-La employee about 37， 000 people and it is anticipated to grow to 50， 000 over the next two years. Besides， Shangri-La has one of the lowest staff turnover ratios and 65% management positions are filled by internal transfers and promotions.

2. Management Structure of Shangri-La

2.1 Theory of Management

Good management is the key to lead the success of the organization. Management is defined as “a set of activities （including planning and decision-making， organizing， leading and controlling） directed at an organizations resources （human， financial， physical and information） to achieve organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner”. Generally， there are three levels of management： top managers， middle managers and first-line managers associated with specific areas such as marketing， finance， operations， human resources or administration and so forth within the organization.

2.2 Management Structure of Shangri-La

The structure of Shangri-La is comprised by the Chief Executive Officer （CEO）， Chief Operating Officer （COO）， 7 Group Directors， and 19 Department Vice Presidents coming from over a dozen nationalities.

The purpose of management is to align the organisational resources such as human resources， financial resources， physical resources， information resources， and the operating environment with the organisational purpose to achieve the organisations goal， by going through planning， decision-making， organising， leading and controlling. Thus， Human resource plays an important role to employ the right people who have those competences. Shangri-La executive team has been selected by some of the most talented professionals in the hospitality industry， and most of them have more than 20 years in the field. In addition， there is more than a dozen nationalities employees working for Shangri-La with work experience around the globe， they bring a vast variety of new ideas （culture） and international perspectives to management and operational issues， which refreshes Shangri-Las working culture and strengthens its position in the competitive industry.

3. Human resources management of Shangri-La

Nankervis and Debrah （1995） state that human resource management strategies have significant impact on an organisations performance and bottom-line results， and contributing to overall effectiveness. In hotel industry， the effective use of human resources can empower organisations to build its competitive advantage. Employees are essential key for hotel industry， for both the production and services from the hotel to the customer are primarily delivered through them. Besides， Kenney and Berger （1994） pointed out high turnover has been a problem in hospitality industry. And organisation can influence turnover by many intervention processes of human resources， such as job performance and training and development. Shangri-La stresses the importance of human resources， and all employees are considered as product and brand image which is incorporated in the business strategy.

References：

[1]Davidson，P.，&Griffin;，W.R.（2006）.Management 3rd Australasian Edition.Australia：John Wiley&Sons; Australia.

[2]Mullins，L.J.（1995）Hospitality Management：A Human Resources Approach.London：Pitman.