WESTMINSTER INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN TASHKENT

STUDENT USE STAFF USE

Introduction to Management First Marker’s
Module Name and Organizational (acts as signature)
Behaviour
 4MNST001C-n  Second Marker’s
Module Code
(acts as signature)
Agreed Mark
Alisher Ismailov/Azizbek
Module Leader
Allaberganov

For Registrar’s office use only (hard copy submission)

Lecturer Name Alisher Ismailov

Seminar Lecturer
Imran Safarov
Name
UoW Student IDs
00008971, 00009096,
WIUT Student IDs
00009747, 00009451
Deadline date 15th of March, 2021
Assignment Type Group Individual

Word Count: 2 270

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION FORM

MARKERS FEEDBACK (Continued on the next page)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Brief Company Overview 1

Organizational structure 5
Organizational culture 5
Impact of COVID-19 at different layers of the company 4
Operational Impact 5
Human Resource Management 5
Response of the company to the pandemic 1
Recommendation 1
Reference List 1
Appendix 1

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Brief company overview

Hyatt Hotels Corporation is a leading international hotel company that has been operating in the global

market for over 60 years. Jay Pritzker founded the first Hyatt House motel near Los Angeles International

Airport in 1957. The company’s goal is to take care of customers so they can familiarize about business

decisions and growth strategies, and aims to attract and hold the best colleagues, build relationships with
(Amcham Uzbekistan, 2019) guests and create shareholder value. The corporation operates under 20 premier brands,

namely the Park Hyatt®, Miraval®, Grand Hyatt®, Alila®, Andaz®, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt®,

Destination®, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt®, Hyatt Ziva™, Hyatt Zilara™, Thompson Hotels®, Hyatt

Centric®, Caption by Hyatt, Joie de Vivre®, Hyatt House®, Hyatt Place®, tommie™, Hyatt Residence

Club® and Exhale® which provides its esteemed members with special benefits and an exclusive

experience. The hotels of this corporation are located in almost 65 countries around the world. (Ahmed et

al., no date)

One of the brands of this corporation opened in 2016 in the city of Tashkent under the name “Hyatt

Regency”. The hotel serves its clients with cozy rooms, luxurious restaurants and bars, spa and fitness

centers, a banquet hall for meetings and special events. Mostly, the hotel offers its services to business

travelers, for delegations, as well as for leisure travelers. Moreover, different events are held here, such

as: weddings, business meetings, opening ceremonies of different companies and brands. Nowadays,

company employs more than 250 employees.

Organizational structure

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Each business should have its own organizational structure, where company executives are flexible and

efficient. As Madura (2010) states “Each firm establishes an organizational framework that identifies the

responsibilities of each job position and the relationship between those positions. The structure of the

organization also shows how all the functions of the responsibilities come together. ”Different firms use

different organizational structures. The quality of a corporate structure depends on the nature of its

function. According to the interview, Hyatt Regency refers to organizational structure, which is

characterized by a high level of staff fragmentation, advanced management class, various groups, and the

existence of multiple rules and codes of conduct for employees, and employees' choice of their business

and professional qualifications. The structure of a company organization can be flat or tall. The flat

structure of the organization is widely used in small businesses where little control is required. As a rule,

the company becomes bigger, its structure more complex. The Hyatt Regency Tashkent belongs to the tall

structure of the organization. It all starts at the top, with the CEO of the company, responsible for building

high-quality strategies and businesses to ensure they are aligned with short-term and long-term goals. In

addition, overseeing all business activities to ensure that they deliver the desired results and are in line

with the overall plan and objective.

Organizational culture

“It is widely accepted that organizational culture is defined as the values and beliefs strongly rooted in the

staff of an organization” (Sun, 2008). A strong, well-executed organizational culture ensures the

achievement of the goals of the organization in a most effective and socially acceptable manner. "Many

businesses are successful not only because of their business ideas, but also because of their employees"

Madura (2010). Employers should motivate their employees to work hard. Hyatt Company makes every

effort to ensure that its employees are motivated and satisfied. There are certain customs and traditions

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that established my Hyatt Regency. Employees who perform well during the year are rewarded

financially. In addition, twice a year the company in winter and summer plans a free trip to the mountains.

For every national holiday the company gives its employees 2-3 days off. In addition, in Navruz which is

one of the most popular holidays in Uzbekistan, the company gathers all the employees in one place and

cooks traditional dishes like sumalak and pilaf. According to the company’s director of sales and

marketing, motivated worker can lead to increased productivity and allow the organization to achieve

higher standards.

Impact of COVID-19 at different layers of the company

Operational impact

“In fact, we are no different from other hotels, so the consequences of global pandemic were enormous

because, first and foremost, the hotel must be serviced, even though there are no guests present. For

example, If the plane is flying empty or full, it must be refueled; likewise our hotel-must also be

serviced.”, says Anna Martusevich, director of sales and marketing department of Hyatt Regency in

Tashkent. We were closed from April to September; people should be employed, all bars should be

covered; in any scenario, housekeeping should be done, the hotel should be cleaned; all 300 rooms should

be aired at all times and there should be an engineering service to monitor our machines, because we have

a large amount of equipment. When you have a 300-room hotel with a 50,000-square-meter hotel area that

is empty and has no revenue from April to September, the losses are obvious.

The economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. The first half of 2020 saw a

widespread decline in vacancy rates around the world. COVID-19’s difficulties had influence on almost

every area of a hotel's activities, including room occupancy and staffing arrangements to food and

beverage provisioning. Cash flow monitoring and planning have been the immediate problem for hotel
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owners and managers. Businesses with stable balance sheets and well-capitalized operations have a clear

edge when it comes to surviving a sharp downturn in sales and a potentially longer period of low demand.

Furthermore, due to commercial operation constraints and supply chain disruptions, we are facing

construction and opening delays. As a result, all or most of our new manufacturing projects may not be

fulfilled and built into new hotels, and these resorts will not be opened when scheduled or at all, which

had influence on the production of our net hotels. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our

development pipeline will not expand at the same pace as in the past, and facilities in our current

framework stock may close, negatively affecting net room expansion. Even if we are capable of

developing our pipeline successfully, customer demand for our rooms will remain low or increase at a

slower speed. Furthermore, if we were unable to obtain the capital we need to finance our operations or

execute our growth strategy, we were forced to delay and cancel planned renovations and expansions,

which of course hurt our ability to compete. Regarding to the actual numbers, administration couldn’t give

exact figures due to confidentiality, but in global share market “Hyatt Hotels Corporation” company’s net

income fell by 262.8 percent to $103 million. In operating profit, adjusted EBITDA dropped 54.3 percent

to $86 million, a decline of 53.9 percent. Management and franchising in EAME/SW Asia Adjusted

EBITDA fell 113.4 percent to $(2) million (down 113.8 percent in constant currency). 61 percent of

Hyatt's EAME/SW Asia full and select service hotels (60 percent of rooms) were open as of June 30,

2020, and 86 percent of EAME/SW Asia full and select service hotels (85 percent of rooms) were open as

of the third quarter, with operations beginning to resume. The Company announced financial results as of

September 30, 2020 debt of $3,241 million. (Hyatt Hotels Corporation - Investor Relations - Financial

Reporting - Quarterly Earnings, 2021)

Human Resource Management

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The pandemic has carried in many changes to the functioning of all systems of the economy around the

world. The performance of all sectors of the economy and spheres of activity, including enterprises in the

hospitality industry, is determined not only by the size, structure, system, and form of management, as

well as network affiliation but also by the principles of forming a system of intercorporate relationships

between hotel employees, building and managing communication systems, a strategy of behavior in the

external information environment. In these difficult conditions, the importance of personnel management

in a hotel enterprise comes to the fore. According to the majority of researchers, a significant element in

the management system of any company in times of crisis is its personnel policy.

During the period of quarantine measures that were introduced around the world, many employees in the

service sector were laid off or sent on unpaid vacation. In this regard, people left without a livelihood were

forced to radically cut their expenses and, at the same time, look for a new job, master new types of

activities, such as freelancing.

During this period, the human resource management system at the HYATT REGENCY hotel played a

decisive role in maintaining its employees, who, like in other areas of activity under quarantine conditions,

were forced to stay at home. But it was the employees of HYATT REGENCY who were on paid

vacations throughout the entire period of isolation, namely from April to September 2020, since the entire

hotel complex was closed to guests.

There is no step-by-step guide on “How to manage hotel staff in a crisis”. Based on its financial

capabilities, the current economic situation, each company decided on its own staff.

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It was important for GENERAL HYATT REGENCY to retain all its qualified employees because, after

the mitigation of the pandemic, the operation of the hotels must continue. For this purpose, the owners of

GENERAL HYATT REGENCY organized a fund called HYATT CARE FUND with an initial capital of

$ 5 million. The fund was created at the expense of the personal funds of the owners and founders of

GENERAL HYATT REGENCY, and was constantly replenished by reducing the salaries of the general

and top management, as well as donations from members of the board of directors (Hyatt Corporation,

2021). Accordingly, during the pandemic, this fund made it possible to preserve almost the entire staff of

the company, who were forced to stay at home, but they were still paid their salaries.

If the impact of the pandemic on the organizational structure of HYATT REGENCY TASHKENT is

considered, then it did not make any significant changes to the structure. The organizational structure of

the company HYATT REGENCY TASHKENT with a staff of 300 people is hierarchical, but you need to

understand that this is an American company, and it has an open-door policy, that is, an employee of any

level can contact the general manager directly. Of course, various branches of the company have their own

cultural characteristics, for example, in Japan, such a policy is completely inconceivable, but in the post-

Soviet space the general manager is available. Of course, there is an organizational structure, a general

manager, his deputy... Accordingly, everyone has their own department, and if the employees of this

department have any question regarding work or a problem, they first turn to their immediate head of the

department. The corporate culture of the company is famous for this. The company has a system of

international management to employees and people here try to treat equally and with respect.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed life: the entire corporate world has entered digital

reality with new consumer behaviors. Decision-making speed has now become the current business value,

so entrepreneurs and corporations have had to modernize HR strategies.

Except for a few staff responsible for maintaining the hotel, the rest of the staff remained at home in

quarantine. There were no layoffs or layoffs. All staff was retained and each was paid a salary. But as you

know, every crisis is accompanied by new opportunities, so some employees found other jobs for

themselves. These were mainly those who, in the pre-crisis time, received not only wages for their work

but also, for example, waiters - tips. The chefs who worked in the restaurant were temporarily housed in

quarantine centers. The directors and employees of some departments, such as the sales department or the

marketing department, worked partly online.

Response of the company to the pandemic

According to the Director of Sales and Marketing of the Luxury hotel Hyatt Regency in Tashkent, since

Covid-19 has entered to people’s life and been declared a global pandemic, like many other organizations,

they are also facing an unprecedented time for the company’s world, its economy and the hospitality

industry, which is seeing significantly decreased demand globally (Hyatt, 2021).

Also, the financial impact on the company’s business shows that Managers have had to make difficult

decisions that both support the wellbeing and safety of the colleagues and guests and protect long-term

prospects for Hyatt. These actions include suspending operations at some hotels, temporary furloughs, as

well as pay and work reductions that will impact all Hyatt corporate colleagues across global regions,

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across all levels and responsibilities, from April 1 through May 31. As the reduction of operating expenses

is crucial in every company, in April, Hyatt announces significant actions to manage operating expenses

and capital commitments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, with its colleagues’

wellbeing in mind, considered various options before deciding to furlough colleagues. The eligibility of

Hyatt corporate colleagues for healthcare and other benefits did not change taking this action, and they

also may file for unemployment benefits during this period. The company is also taking steps to protect,

as well as, fund benefit coverage, such as employee benefit premiums for up to two months for colleagues

who have been furloughed. Moreover, along with the unemployment benefits, temporarily furloughed

colleagues will be encouraged to use Paid Time Off days to cover pay during the furlough period.

Furthermore, there are some installed initiatives for Hyatt’s colleagues including body temperature checks

upon arrival, maintaining good hygiene practices, wearing masks frequent handwashing, and hand

sanitation.

As claimed by the Director of sales and Marketing, nowadays the company is in the process of setting up a

global Hyatt Care Fund which will be distributed to those colleagues with the most pressing financial

needs due to loss of income. It will be seeded by 100 percent of the Hyatt leadership team’s salary

reductions like an initial contribution. Through the end of May, both President & CEO Mark Hoplamazian

and Chairman of the Board Tom Pritzker are forgoing 100 percent of their salaries, and Hyatt’s Senior

Leadership Team is taking a salary cut of 50 percent (Hyatt, 2021).

In September, because it was not forbidden to hold events in the hotels and did not have the opportunity to

sell rooms, the hotel held more events, special dinners keeping a distance. Therefore, the hotel made

themed stories such as “October Fest”, “Hyatt in the big city” for the dinners that are the company kept in

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touch with the local market. Work was only allowed in the bar and restaurant so they mainly focused on

them.

As the company uses a Hierarchical organizational structure, during the pandemic, all decisions were

made by senior management using an autocratic management style. Hyatt Regency’s main goal is to

emerge in a position of strength coming out of this crisis, with their world-class teams as intact as possible

across the global Hyatt family. It is only by the strength of their workforce that they can be ready when

the hospitality industry rebounds, and when Hyatt’s customers and guests once again choose Hyatt.

Recommendation

Nowadays, when quarantine measures have eased, businesses around the world, including hospitality,

have resumed their activities. All companies are striving to quickly build up the lost time during the

pandemic. It will take some time to achieve pre-crisis results. In this regard, in order to determine the

existing opportunities and prospects, the decisive factors are the introduction of new business ideas, a non-

standard approach to solving various issues, and the speed of decision-making.

One of the recommendations for such solutions could be the exchange of ideas and experience between

various regional hotels of the HYATT REGENCY chain. For this, on a competitive basis, among all the

staff of all hotels of the HYATT REGENCY chain, it would be possible to select candidates who have a

creative approach and a desire to bring something new to their work. These employees would have to

work for some time in other hotels of the hotel chain in countries with a similar culture in order to

exchange positive experiences.

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Moreover, there are many ways which help the Hyatt Regency to recover its economy and increase the

hospitality industry. One of them could be to reduce the costs in agreement with tour agencies like does its

Dubai hotels. For instance, even traveling rules are simplified now differing from its first periods during

the pandemic, traveling is not allowed to all countries yet. As Uzbekistan has opened again its door for

foreigners, reducing the cost for hotels would be the best to implement. And tour agencies would be the

exact tool to inform about the hotel and its current discounts, attracting hundreds of tourists. Offering

travelers luxury hotels at a low price are one pleasure for customers and attracting a big wave of tourists

continuing company’s activities is another pleasant for the company itself.

Reference list

Amcham Uzbekistan, ‘Hyatt Regency Tashkent’ (Amcham Uzbekistan, 2019) <http://amcham.uz/hyatt-

regency-tashkent/> accessed 12 March 2021

Hospitality, ‘Hyatt Launches Hyatt Care Fund to Provide Financial Relief to Global Colleagues’
(Hospitality Net, 2021) <https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4098125.html> accessed 10 March
2021

Hyatt Corporation, ‘Hyatt Hotels Corporation - Investor Relations - Corporate Governance - Corporate
Governance Guidelines’ (Investors.hyatt.com, 2021) <https://investors.hyatt.com/investor-
relations/corporate-governance/corporate-governance-guidelines/default.aspx> accessed 10 March
2021

Hyatt Corporation, ‘Our people’ (Hyatt Corporation, 2021) <https://about.hyatt.com/en/hyatt-thrive/our-

people.html> accessed 11 March 2021

Hyatt, ‘Statement on Hyatt Corporate Workforce Actions in Response to COVID-19’ (Hyatt Newsroom,

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2021) <https://newsroom.hyatt.com/statement_corporate_workforce_covid-19 > accessed 14 March 2021

Investors.hyatt.com. 2021. Hyatt Hotels Corporation - Investor Relations - Financial Reporting -

Quarterly Earnings. [online] Available at: <http://investors.hyatt.com/investor-relations/financial-

reporting/quarterly-earnings/default.aspx> [Accessed 13 March 2021].

Investors.hyatt.com. 2021. Hyatt Reports Third-Quarter 2020 Results. [online] Available at:

<http://investors.hyatt.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/financial-news/financial-news-details/

2020/Hyatt-Reports-Third-Quarter-2020-Results/default.aspx> [Accessed 14 March 2021].

Jeff Madura, Introduction to business: Management (Montreal Way: Paradigm Publishing, 5th edn, 2010)

Jeff Madura, Introduction to business: Managing Employees (Montreal Way: Paradigm Publishing, 5th
edn, 2010)

The World Bank Group, ‘International tourism, number of arrivals | Data’ (Worldbank.org., 2021)
<https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.ARVL> accessed 10 March 2021

Mirco Toniolo, ‘Italy coronavirus lockdown leaves streets deserted – in pictures [image]’ (The Guardian,
2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2020/mar/11/italy-coronavirus-lockdown-
leaves-streets-deserted-in-pictures> accessed 10 March 2021

WorldData.info, ‘Tourism in Italy’ (Worlddata.info., 2020)

<https://www.worlddata.info/europe/italy/tourism.php> accessed 10 March 2021

World of Hyatt, ‘Hyatt Care Fund’ (The World of Hyatt, 2021)

<https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en/landing/hyattcarefund.html> accessed 10 March 2021

Appendix

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