Transforming human resources functions to strategic : evidence from Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) in Lebanon -

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to examine the HR functions used at Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) that manages six hotels in Lebanon: Intercontinental Phoenicia, Intercontinental Le Vendome, Crowne Plaza Beirut, Holiday Inn Verdun, Staybridge Suites Verdun and Intercontinental Mzaar, and to provide relevant suggestions that could improve the performance of the hotels’ HR departments towards becoming more of strategic partners. Accordingly, the aim is to conduct an HR gap analysis in order to identify the current practices, underline the weaknesses in the HR departments, recommend how to transform the HR departments of these hotels to strategic HR functions, and eventually provide relevant suggestions that could improve their performance and efficiency. The outcomes of this project will serve as a reference for the hotels’ HR teams. The study goes further to define strategic human resource management and how this could be applied in the selected hotels. This study will help the hotels to implement best practices in human resources management, which ultimately aims to boost their business performance in the Lebanese market.