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STUDENT No: 10033397
Project submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements of the
BA (HONS) INETERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY
AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
of Northumbria University
NAME CHAN Hoi Yee DEGREE BA (Hons) International
Hospitality and Tourism Management
TUTOR Dr. Connie Mok TITLE The development of Corporate
Social Responsibility in Hotel Industry
DATE April 2011 CAMPUS Shape (Hong Kong)
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Declarations
I declare the following:
(1) that the material contained in this Project is the end result of my own
work and that due acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography
and references to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.
(2) the Word Count of this Project is: Section A: 3738
Section B: 5210
Reflective Statement: 869
Total Word Count: 9817
(3) that unless this Project has been confirmed as confidential, I agree to
an entire electronic copy or sections of the Project to being placed on
Blackboard, if deemed appropriate, to allow future students the
opportunity to see examples of past Projects. I understand that if
displayed on Blackboard it would be made available for no longer than
five years and that students would be able to print off copies or download.
The authorship would remain anonymous.
(4) I agree to my Project being submitted to a plagiarism detection
service, where it will be stored in a database and compared against work
submitted from this or any other School or from other institutions using
the service.
In the event of the service detecting a high degree of similarity between
content within the service this will be reported back to my supervisor and
second marker, who may decide to undertake further investigation which
may ultimately lead to disciplinary actions, should instances of plagiarism
be detected.
(5) I have read the University Policy Statement on Ethics in Resarch and
Consultancy and the Policy for Informed Consent in Research and
Consultancy and I declare that ethical issues have been considered and
taken into account in this research.
SIGNED: .......................................................... DATE: ................................................................
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Abstract
This paper is divided into two sections. Section A is a personal
development project while section B is a literature review.
There are 2 parts in section A. In part 1, the author will do three
questionnaires in order to explore her strengths and weakness in
learning preferences, personality and team role, and then get comments
from her family and friends. In part 2, the author will talk about her
lifelong learning plan and transferable, as well as to justify her career
choice.
Section B of this paper is the literature review. The topic of the
dissertation is the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
in Hotel Industry. Corporate Social Responsibility is now seen as an
obligation of business and requires that business undo social and
environmental problems it has created. Society and business have a
direct relationship that has grown more contentious in the past decade.
CSR reports are primarily the result of the insistence of employees who
are demanding assurances that their companies are behaving
themselves, and there is a correlation between companies that are seen
as good employers and that take their social responsibilities seriously. At
the end, recommendations will be suggested for the development of
CSR in hotel industry.
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Acknowledgements
This project is the product of many months of investigation and work. All of
these could not be possible without the help of many people that kindly
contributed their time and expertise to collaborate in this project.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Connie Mok, who has given
me a lot of valuable opinions on my work, especially for guiding me to work out
the topic of the literature review.
Last but not least, I would also like to thank my family and friends who
completed the questionnaires and continual encouragement, especially
Jasmine Li and Wilson Leung, for their unfailing supply of patience, help and
support.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Title page 1
Declaration and Word Count 2
Abstract 3
Acknowledgements 4
Contents Page 5
List of figures 8
Section A
Part 1: Who I am as a learner?
1.1 Introduction 9
1.2 Learning Style 9
1.2.1 Definition of VARK 9
1.2.2 VARK Results 11
1.2.3 Implications for learning 12
1.2.4 Family and friends to comment 12
1.3 Personality 13
1.3.1 Definition of Myers Briggs 13
1.3.2 Myers Briggs Results 14
1.3.3 Implications for learning 15
1.3.4 Family and friends to comment 15
1.4 Team Role 16
1.4.1 Definition of Belbin Inventory 16
1.4.2 Belbin Inventory Results 17
1.4.3 Implications for learning 18
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1.4.4 Family and friends to comment 19
Part 2: Implications for career choice
2.1 Lifelong Learning 20
2.1.1 The author‟s lifelong learning plan 21
2.2 Transferable Skills 22
2.2.1 The author‟s transferable skills 22
2.3 Justify Chosen Career Choice 24
Appendix A VARK, Myers Briggs, Belbin Inventory 26
Appendix B Curriculum vitae, Two job adverts, 27
Standard application form
Appendix C PowerPoint Presentation 28
Section B
Part 1 Introduction
1.1 Reason for choice of topic 29
1.2 Academic objectives of the Project 30
1.3 Outline of sections 31
Part 2 Literature Review
2.1 Background of CSR 32
2.1.1 Definition 32
2.1.2 History 33
2.2 Recent CSR programs in the hotel industry 34
2.2.1 Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts 34
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2.2.2 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 38
2.3 Importance of CSR to hotels‟ competitiveness 42
2.3.1 Financial performance 42
2.3.2 Employee satisfaction 43
2.3.3 Customer satisfaction 45
2.4 Challenges to the hotel industry 47
2.4.1 Financial aspect 47
2.4.2 Ethical aspect 48
Part 3 Summary and Conclusions
3.1 Summary 50
3.2 Recommendations 51
References 53
Bibliography 60
Reflective Statement 62
Last Page 66
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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1.1 VARK Questionnaire Results 10
Table 1.2 MBTI 16 Personality Types 12
Table 1.3 MBTI Questionnaire Results 13
Table 1.4 SPI Questionnaire Results 16
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Section A
Part 1: Who I am as a learner?
1.1 Introduction
Section A of this project is going to explore the author‟s learning styles,
personality types, abilities, preferences and team role by completing three
recognized questionnaires. She will also ask her family and friends to
comment her about the tests. According to Coffield, Moseley and Ecclestone
(2004), it is important for people to identify and match individual learning
preferences with suitable instructions. All the three tests can help her to
understand herself deeper that she may not know in daily life, and she can use
the advice for her own growth and improvement, finally to develop an
appropriate career in the near future.
1.2 Learning Style
1.2.1 Definition of VARK
VARK test is a questionnaire created by a New Zealand educator, Neil
Fleming, which helps people to identify their own learning styles. Learning
style refers to how an individual is able to learn and remember information.
Everyone should have their own learning preference, once knowing their
learning preference, it helps them learn effectively and efficiently. According to
Fleming and Baume (2006), students and teachers need a starting place for
thinking about, and understanding, how they learn. A learning style is, rather, a
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description of a process, or of preferences. Any inventory that encourages a
learner to think about the way that he or she learns is a useful step towards
understanding, and hence improving, learning.
Fleming and Mills (1992) suggested four categories that seemed to reflect the
experiences of the students and teachers. VARK stands for Visual,
Aural/Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic, they are defined as follows.
- Visual (V): Learners prefer learning through depiction of information in
diagrams, charts, maps, etc. rather than words only. It does include
designs, patterns, shapes, and different formats that are used to highlight
and convey information.
- Aural/Auditory (A): Learners have preference for information that is “heard
or spoken”. They learn best from lectures, tutorials, group discussion, etc.,
and they want to sort things out by speaking, rather than sorting things out
and then speaking.
- Read/Write (R): Learners prefer all the information displayed as words,
such as printout and PowerPoint, etc. This preference emphasizes
text-based input and output – reading and writing in all its forms..
- Kinesthetic (K): Learners have preference on the use of experience and
practice. They prefer touching, feeling and interacting with their
environment, like demonstrations.
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1.2.2 VARK Results
VARK Test 1 Test 2
Visual 11 7
Aural/Auditory 12 11
Read/Write 8 9
Kinesthetic 11 10
Table 1.1 VARK Questionnaire Results
The author has done the VARK test twice. These two results reflect that she
has a multimodal (VARK) learning preference (Appendix A1 and A2). The
results are quite accurate for the author although they are not exactly the same.
The author does not like reading books or writing very much. She often got
relatively low marks for compositions in Secondary School. However, the
author learns best through group discussions and demonstrations, also by
asking question and doing the task for several times, so that she can keep the
information in her mind deeply. The author had an internship in Hong Kong
Disneyland during Year 1 of higher diploma, there were some training courses
for candidates. In on-the-job training part, she learned best and most
comfortable from the trainer‟s demonstrations and explanation, the most
exciting part for her was the candidates could have real practices after
demonstration.
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1.2.3 Implications for learning
The multimodal learning preference for the author is good as life is also
multimodal. The author can choose which mode to use and has more than one
learning strategy when learning different things and interacting with others. For
example, the author is good at aural learning preference, it is easier for her to
memorize information through listening, so she can have more discussions
with classmates when studying.
According to French, Cosgritt and Brown (2007), learning needs to cooperate
in all aspects to achieve the good result. As a whole developed student, she
should improve reading and writing skills. Although the author does not like
reading books, she can try to start with reading some interesting books or
watching English news that she is interested in. Therefore, she can not only
learn more good sentences, but also improve writing skills.
1.2.4 Family and friends to comment
The author‟s family and friends absolutely agreed with the test results. They
both agreed that the author does not like neither reading nor writing, but learns
quickly through explanation aurally and demonstration. To improve the reading
and writing skills, their perception are same as the author, that is read more
editorial articles, news and books. Her mother even said that she can sponsor
the author for buying books. They also suggested that the author can make
some notes when watching demonstrations or during discussions, this can
help to strengthen the understanding and memory of the principles, not only
suitable for studying, but also for working.
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1.3 Personality
1.3.1 Definition of Myers Briggs
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most well known personality
instrument in the world. It was developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her
mother Katharine Cook Briggs. MBTI is a questionnaire which helps people to
find out the type of their personality, therefore they can know themselves
deeply. Wall (2008, pp78) stated that “Our personality type determines how we
interact with our world, how we gather information, how we make decisions,
and how we orient our lifestyles. It is who we are and dictates how we
communicate with others.”
As defined by Myers and Briggs, much of the personality can be divided into
four independent preference areas: Energizing, Attending, Deciding, and
Living. Within each scale, there is a preference for one of two opposites that
define the scale, i.e. Extraversion-Introversion (EI), Sensing-Intuition (SN),
Thinking-Feeling (TF), and Judgment-Perception (JP). This makes for a total
of 16 different combinations as follow:
ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ
ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ
Table 1.2 MBTI 16 Personality Types
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1.3.2 Myers Briggs Results
The test report shows that the author‟s personality type is probably ENFJ, or
perhaps ESFJ (Appendix A3).
ISTJ 58% ISFJ 65% INFJ 67% INTJ 60%
ISTP 47% ISFP 60% INFP 61% INTP 48%
ESTP 49% ESFP 55% ENFP 58% ENTP 51%
ESTJ 54% ESFJ 68% ENFJ 69% ENTJ 56%
Table 1.3 MBTI Questionnaire Results
ENFJ direct their energy primarily towards the outer world of actions and
spoken words. They try to build harmony in important personal relationships.
Their life is organized on a personal basis, seeking to develop and promote
personal growth in people they value. The dominant function for an ENFJ is
the judging one of Feeling, that is, they make decisions on the basis of
personal values and are appreciative or accepting of people. The judging
Feeling function is extraverted. They tend to express the appreciation that they
feel towards others, consider others' feelings before their own. They are
sensitive to praise and criticism, and seek to accommodate others'
(reasonable) expectations as far as possible. Also, the Feeling function is
primarily supported by introverted intuitive perception - that is, intuitive
perception is used primarily to manage the inner world of thoughts and
emotions.
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1.3.3 Implications for learning
As an ENFJ, it is true that the author sometimes has difficulty to make good
decisions, and relies heavily on other people in decision-making processes.
For example, the author wanted to learn one more foreign language a few
years ago, but she could not make decision whether to learn Japanese or
Spanish. Until now, she is still asking her friends‟ comments.
Also, she sometimes judges things too quickly based on established value
systems or social rules, without really understanding the current situation. And
she is quite sensitive to criticism, and to have the tendency to worry
excessively and feel guilty. She cares about the others‟ perception about her
because she always worries about the things she have done are not perfect
enough and thinks she can do better. But no friends know this side of the
author, everyone only knows the author loves to laugh, energetic and
interacting with people.
The author should define her life's direction and priorities according to her own
needs and has more self-confidence. She should not over-concentrate on
other people's needs. In contrast, she can keeps on having the positive
characteristic of ENFJ. That is, giving and caring, and maintaining good
relationship with others.
1.3.4 Family and friends to comment
Both the author‟s family and best friends consented that her decision-making
process is almost influenced by other people, just like the case of choosing
language to learn. Her best friend told her that it was unforgettable for her
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birthday last year, because the author hand-made a small gift and a birthday
card to her. It was really touching to her. Another friend says that the author is
fun to be with, and truly understand. He thought she is very straight-forward
and honest. The author‟s father agreed that she has a great amount of ability
to do many different things, for instant, she had a lot of extra-curricular
activities at the same time, e.g. basketball and athletic team member,
Putonghua and English ambassador in secondary school.
1.4 Team Role
1.4.1 Definition of Belbin Inventory
Dr. Meredith Belbin developed the Belbin Team Role Self-Perception Inventory
(SPI) which can help people to know individual‟s behavioral tendency in a
team environment. There are nine clusters of behavior that individuals adopt
when participating in a team:
- Knowledge-oriented: Plants (PL), Monitor Evaluates (ME), Specialists (SP)
- Communication-oriented: Resources Investigators (RI), Co-ordinators (CO),
Team Workers (TW)
- Action-oriented: Shapers (SH), Implementers (IMP), Completer-Finishers
(CF)
The test provides advice for each role. It also brings out people‟s strengths and
significant weaknesses which might affect their future, and help to raise
self-awareness to inform participants which career would be best for them
(Test for young people).
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1.4.2 Belbin Inventory Results
Team-Role Contribution Preferred Roles
Team Workers (TW) 88
Specialists (SP) 84
Team-Role Contribution Least Preferred Roles
Monitor Evaluates (ME) 29
Shapers (SH) 15
Table 1.4 SPI Questionnaire Results
The above table 1.4 shows part of the test results of the author. She gets the
highest marks in Team Workers and Specialists, however, these two roles are
quite different. Team Workers are co-operative and mild, they are the most
supportive members of a team, but Specialists are single-minded and
self-starting, they are dedicated individuals who pride themselves on acquiring
technical skills and specialized knowledge. Although these two roles are
contrasting, the results can actually reflect the author‟s role in different
situation.
Team Workers are mild, sociable and concerned about others. They have a
great capacity for flexibility and adapting to different situations and people.
They have a lubricating effect on teams. Morale is better and people seem to
cooperate better when they are around. Specialists‟ priorities centre on
maintaining professional standards and on furthering and defending their own
field. While they show great pride in their own subject, they usually lack
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interest in other people.
When the author was in Secondary School, some classmates said that she
was a good listener, they loved to talk with the author and cooperate with her
for projects and activities. The author has joined a uniform group called Hong
Kong Sea Cadet Corps since 2003, the life experience in the organization
influences her character a lot, builds up her Team Worker role. She always
holds activities or does teambuilding games with the other cadets. She often
plays the role who can allow all team members to contribute effectively. Also,
the author loves playing piano and has played for many years. When playing
piano, the player should be single-minded and concentrated for every note of
the pieces. The Specialist team role then developed.
On the other hand, the author gets the lowest scores in Monitor Evaluates (ME)
and Shapers (SH). Monitor Evaluates are serious-minded, prudent individuals
with a built-in immunity for being over-enthusiastic. It is true that the author is
weak at analyzing problems and evaluating ideas and suggestions. Shapers
are highly motivated people with a lot of nervous energy and a need for
achievement. The author does not like to challenge others and not concern win
or lose, all what she wants are people can co-operate with each other
peacefully and happily.
1.4.3 Implications for learning
“Nobody is perfect!” this was told by an instructor in Sea Cadet Corps. By
experiencing the life in a team, the author knows that cooperation is very
important, not only for games, but also for works. As the Team Worker role fit
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the author‟s personality, she can put more effort to develop herself on this side.
Since no one would see Team Workers as a threat, therefore people accept
them easily and love to work with them. She can make use of the advantage to
make things do effectively and efficiently.
For the weaknesses of the author, she should learn more different things and
read more editorial articles, so that she can develop good critical and
strategically thinking which can help her to analyze and judge accurately. From
time to time, she can have better capacity for shrewd judgments that take all
factors into account.
1.4.4 Family and friends to comment
The author‟s friends totally agreed that she is a Team Worker. Between four
best friends, the author often takes up the role of contact person, as she has
strong need for close, intimate relationships, and will put forth a lot of effort in
creating and maintaining the relationships. Besides, her friends in Hong Kong
Sea Cadet Corps said that she is a well-equipped team player and capable to
handle different situations. Whenever the focus is on individuals or team, she
has the ability to make her mark by offering well-informed support and advice.
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Part: 2 Implications for career choice
2.1 Lifelong Learning
According to Department of Education and Science (2000), Lifelong learning is
the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an
individual. It occurs through experiences encountered in the course of a
lifetime. These experiences could be formal, such as training, counseling,
tutoring, mentorship, apprenticeship, higher education, etc. or informal, such
as experiences and situations. It is the „lifelong, voluntary, and self-motivated‟
pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.
Tung Chee Hwa, Ex-Chief Executive of Hong Kong, aspired to build a
knowledge-based society under his reign. He mentioned that lifelong learning
is a foundation of our educational system (Tung, 1999). „If Hong Kong wishes
to become a knowledge-based economy in the information age, we must
continue to innovate and change. This is why we must embrace “Lifelong
Learning”‟ (Tung, 1999, pp20).
The author understands that, because of the influence of globalization, Hong
Kong is unavoidable to act as an international city. Globalization requires
people to prepare themselves for a knowledge-based society. The general
public has embraced lifelong learning not only as a way but also as a
necessary part of life. Apart from this, more and more companies, especially in
hospitality industry, are seeking for multi-skills employees rather than unique
skills employee in order to make the organization works smoothly and
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effectively. Therefore, the author must be well prepared to increase her
competitiveness to fight for better career development in the future.
2.1.1 The author’s lifelong learning plan
Jones, Woods, Coles and Rein (2001) sees graduates who hold a degree is
not the end of their learning. They must develop to be „critical lifelong learners‟
and to „save‟ their knowledge by further education.
The author hopes to be a front office manager within 6-8 years. In a short run,
the author will apply to be a front desk receptionist in hotel after graduated.
She will keep learning in the workplace to accumulate more relevant work
experiences. Apart from this, learning multi-languages is also an important part
of personal development. Nowadays, both English and Mandarin are major
communication languages in Hong Kong, especially in hospitality industry,
they are a must. To be a front office manager, fluent foreign language skills are
needed to communicate with different people, and many paper works like
reports need to be written. Therefore, the author plans to take some courses to
improve her Mandarin and English skills, such as reading, writing and
speaking within 1-2 years. After that, she will takes examination that are
related to these languages, e.g. PUTONGHUA SHUIPING CESHI (PSC) for
Mandarin and The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for
English.
In a long run, the author decides to continue her studies in a master degree
that is related to hospitality industry after gaining 3-5 years working experience
as she hopes to be a front office manager. As the author learns well by
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touching, feeling and interacting with the environment, working in the industry
for several years can help her to understand the real business situation of the
industry rather than only studying theories through books. With those
experiences in workplace, the author can master the study easier because she
has experienced them.
2.2 Transferable Skills
Ahern (2007, pp7) stated that, „In a world that is ever changing to keep up with
technology and a visible increase in part-time jobs dotting our landscape,
transferable skills are one of the most important pieces of luggage that a
person will take with them on their journey.‟ The transferable skills are often
intangible, they are vague for the practical purpose. They can be interpersonal
skills, communication skills, self-management skills, etc.
In Hong Kong, despite possessing a degree certificate, transferable skills are
always needed in the service-oriented industry. Today, employers hire people
not only focus on the academic results of applicants, but they will also look at
their transferable skills in order to consider whether they suit the position or not.
So that employers can make the right people do the right job to support the
organization.
2.2.1 The author’s transferable skills
Ahern (2007, pp7) also stated that, „It was “believing” in transferable skills that
helped me make the smooth transition. To have the skills is one thing, but to
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believe in them is what makes the difference. I had some of the skills
necessary and I also had to learn many more skills that I had not been
exposed to in my previous work.‟
In accordance with the Myers Briggs test and the Belbin Inventory test, the
author has good teamwork and communication skills, she can put more effort
to improve and get these skills well developed. She can cooperate well with
others since she was a schoolchild, and she is enjoying to do so until now.
These skills are strengthened through the life of Hong Kong Sea Cadet Corps,
which is a uniform group like a small society. In the organization, cadets have
to stay along with different people from different ages and background, the
mind of „team spirit‟ has been set. Working in the real society is the same as
that in the Sea Cadet Corps - cooperating well with others. The author believes
that she can get well with colleagues at work.
„Good communication skills typically lead to better relationships with your
co-workers, a better relationship with your boss, and a greater likelihood that
you‟ll be given additional responsibilities or considered for promotion,‟ said
Tribune (2005, pp A8) The author noticed effective communication is important
since she has a part-time job in Hong Kong Disneyland. She works in the
outdoor vending department. The food carts can be found everywhere
„onstage‟ in the park, but the main control center is in the backstage, therefore,
effective communication is vital for the operation of the carts. Whenever the
communication breakdown, the whole workflow will be affected.
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Apart from these skills, the author can improve her leadership also. She is
lucky that the uniform group has given her a large space to learn and practice
through holding activities and giving training to the cadets. She understands
how to assist her followers in attaining their goals and to provide directions or
supports. These experiences can enhance her personal growth and get well
prepared to be a front office manager in the future.
2.3 Justify Chosen Career Choice
„Career success is a way for individuals to fulfill their need for achievement and
power, because it improves people‟s quantity or quality of life‟, said Lau and
Shaffer (1999, pp 225).
Every child has dreamed about their future career, and it will change according
to their ages. When the author was in secondary school, she wished to be a
geologist because she loved geography. However, she only got a credit in the
HKCEE, and even failed in the HKAL. She knew that she has to look for other
career. As the author loves to interact with people, so she chose a
service-oriented subject in higher diploma, Hotel Management. After finished
the higher diploma, she found that she did make a right decision to study hotel
management. Therefore, she is now studying a degree of International
Hospitality and Tourism Management. She hopes to develop her career in
hotel industry.
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The VARK test stated that the author has a strong ability to speak and listen
well. Besides, the Myers Briggs test result showed that the author does well in
positions where they deal with people in workplace. She has ability to
understand people and say just what needs to be said to make them happy
makes them naturals for counseling. Finally, the Belbin Inventory test showed
that the author‟s overall style is a well-equipped team player. Whether the
focus is on the individual or the team, she has the ability to make her mark by
offering well-informed support and advice. The author can works well with
colleagues in a team.
The author hopes to be a front office manager in the future within 6-8 years.
Therefore, she will first apply as a hotel receptionist to enter the industry after
her graduation. The hospitality industry requires team works, not only within
one team but also with other teams to provide excellent service to customers.
For instance, the front office department has to cooperate well with the
housekeeping department in order to provide comfortable and suitable
guestrooms to guests. The author has confidence that she can well
communicate and coordinate with the colleagues as her personality facilitates
her to build up harmonic relationship with people. This can also help her to
build up good relationship with guests as well, since listening, understanding
and patience are vital skills in hospitality industry to get customers satisfied.
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Section B
Part 1: Introduction
1.1 Reason for choice of topic
The topic of the dissertation is the development of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) in Hotel Industry. The hospitality industry is made up of
many companies who are run by business people. According to Jaszay and
Dunk (2006), business people who put short-term profits ahead of concern for
the long-term health of the company or who make additional profits by failing to
spend the money necessary to handle toxic waste or pollution resulting from
the manufacturing process, are not professionals and harm the reputation of
the industry as a profession. How CSR is closely related to the operations of
hotels and how they can implement the programs well cannot be ignored to the
success of the corporation.
Lee and Heo (2009) state that „CSR has emerged as an intensely relevant
issue in the corporate world in the past decade, and the hospitality industry has
been actively involving in the issue in various ways. Hotels have implemented
numerous green practices along with participating in green certificate
programs, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
certification‟. Starwood even developed a new eco-friendly chain, ELEMENT
Hotels, in which properties must obtain LEED certification (Las Vegas Now,
2008).
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Since the author would like to develop her career in hospitality industry in the
future, understanding the issues related to hotel industry can strengthen the
knowledge to get well prepared for the career development. The author
understands that corporate social responsibility is becoming a more and more
important issue not only in the hospitality industry, but also in all kinds of
industry worldwide. However, to compare with US or European countries,
Hong Kong seems falling behind on the development of CSR. Nowadays,
citizens are more concern about how the company acts as an enterprise in the
society when spending money on it. The higher the satisfaction, the more the
money they are willing to spend. CSR is vital for a company‟s improvement as
CSR activities can enhance brand images of hotels, and then, the improved
brand images can influence a hotel‟s financial performances by attracting more
customers.
1.2 Academic objectives of Project
This literature review aims to advise the following objectives:
1. to define Corporate Social Responsibility;
2. to review recent programs that hotel industry is doing;
3. to analyze the importance of CSR to hotels‟ competitiveness and
4. to examine the challenges hotel industry is facing
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1.3 Outline of sections
This paper is structured by three sections as follow:
- Part 1 is the introduction. It presents a brief background and reasons for
this literature review, and main academic objectives of the dissertation. It
also briefly lists out the outline of each section.
- Part 2 is the literature review. This part reports the development of
corporate social responsibility in the hotel industry. It provides
comprehensive information and allows readers to have more
understanding of CSR. It also analyzes the importance and examines the
challenges of CSR in hotel industry.
- Part 3 is the conclusion. The objective of this section is to draw summary
and provide recommendations about corporate social responsibility to hotel
industry.
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Part 2: Literature Review
2.1 Background of CSR
2.1.1 Definition
Corporate social responsibility is the “organization‟s obligation to maximize its
positive impact and minimize its negative effects in being a contributing
member to society, with concern for society‟s long-term needs and wants”
(Lantos, 2001, pp600).
Besides, CSR can be broadly defined as the activities making companies good
citizens who contribute to society‟s welfare beyond their own self interests. It
can also be anything from making sure staff has the right ergonomic chair at
work, to strategic development of a sustainable business, introducing best
practices or giving something back to the wider community.
Moreover, CSR involves running a business with an action-oriented
managerial strategy under a comprehensive set of policies, practices, and
programs integrated throughout the business operations. Decision making
includes a voluntary commitment to contribute to sustainable development by
making decisions that fairly balance the claims of all key stakeholders,
shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and local communities. These
decisions should maximize the positive impact and minimize the negative
effects of the business, while maintaining concern for society‟s long-term
needs in ways that address or exceed the ethical, legal, environmental,
33
commercial, and other wants or expectations of society, with consumers trying
to be accountable to society for performance by explaining, justifying, or
reporting on their actions.
All in all, Corporate Social Responsibility involves “achieving commercial
success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities,
and the natural environment” (Clark, 2006, pp 42). There is no universally
accepted definition of CSR, but most of the definitions have to do with
business having a positive impact on the community (Redford, 2005) and
meeting or exceeding public expectations of good corporate citizenship
(Brands that do good, 2003).
2.1.2 History
CSR activities is not new, they have already more than 100 years history.
Originally CSR came from charity principle or nobles oblige. This means some
firms or some rich people, that afford to help community or others because of
their profits or richness, did CSR activities by which firms and rich people do
not earn the money, but only spend money.
Ackerman and Bauer (1976) states that „CSR we handle is concerned about
not only social contribution but also positively solving social problems like
environmental issues.‟ In 1950s in U.S, social problems like environmental
pollution which caused by firms occurred and were accused by citizen were
discussed as corporate social responsibility. In 1960s and 70s CSR was very
34
hot issue in USA again, because some illegal action were accused and some
big incidents occurred in business and politics. So many people paid attention
to firms‟ activities which could cause them harm. In other words, firms‟
influence was huge and people could not ignore it. To survive, keep
developing and justify its existence, firms were in the situation to persuade
people and care of them. Then social issues were begun to discuss in CSR.
CSR is regarded as social issue in management in this context. An act of a firm
should be not only reactive, but also anticipatory and pro-active.
Nowadays CSR is not only spending money, doing CSR activities enable us to
earn the money. A firm‟s purpose is not only to survive, develop and justify its
existence, but also to do business with stakeholders, to develop society, to
support society, to solve social problems and to gain sustainability. Therefore,
CSR concepts are still spreading.
2.2 Recent CSR programs in the hotel industry
2.2.1 Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts have unified all initiatives within five key areas
of CSR namely, Environment, Health & Safety, Employees, Supply Chain,
Stakeholder Relations and under the umbrella brand of 'sustainability', so that
CSR can be used as a more significant tool towards development. The
followings are the brief description of the five areas:
35
For Environment, Shangri-La mitigates impacts on the environment by
ensuring that its day-to-day operations promote and implement responsible
environmental practices and continual improvement. It has to ensure every
property built respects local traditions and culture to restore natural habitats,
conserve biodiversity and manage waste, water and energy. Regarding to
Health and Safety, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has commenced
certification under the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems
(OHSA: 18001). For Employees, Shangri-La highly encourages employment
from local communities in order to contribute to the overall residents' quality
of life. In addition, 2% of every hotel‟s headcount is made up of colleagues who
have various mental and/or physical challenges. In Supply Chain aspect,
Shangri-La prefers local community-based suppliers and eco-friendly products
so as to promote growth and development in the communities in which it
operates. It is strongly committed to working with business partners who share
the values of corporate citizenship, respect for the environment, human rights
and social justice. Finally, for Stakeholder relations, Shangri-La is launching its
first Sustainability Report for the year 2010 to feature baseline data on
environmental, social and economic practice. Regular dialogue is conducted
with corporate and preferred clients, suppliers, concessionaires and the local
community to better address issues that confront its properties.
CSR Programs - Embrace
Shangri-La's Care for People Project was launched in September 2009
committing each hotel to a 10-15 year partnership with a chosen beneficiary
working on children's health or education programs. Whether a school, health
center or orphanage, the entity must require resources that the hotel can very
36
ably to deliver on, such as infrastructure support, fundraising, life skills training
and even hotel apprenticeships. Yearly goals and targets are defined and at
the end of ten to fifteen years, it is envisioned that the children have finished
higher education, are able to look after their own health and are ready for
decent employment based on their own merits. Hotels are encouraged to look
at running hotel skills training programs to entice these graduates to work in
the industry and secure a sustainable career for themselves (Shangri-La CSR
Programs).
For example, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Kota Kinabalu has
partnered with Seri Mengasih, a school for over 100 intellectually and
physically challenged children, since 2008. 2010 marks the third year of full
school fees support alongside regular hotel skills training in areas such as
housekeeping and bakery, with the goal of hiring apprentices into the hotel.
One apprentice works at the registration and towel counter by the poolside and
is able to interact with guests. Funds are currently being raised to help
purchase a Snozelen center, a device and learning device that promotes
children‟s capacity to respond to light and sound dynamics.
Another example is the School Renovation project in Changchun. In the Yitong
county of Jilin Province, 20% of middle school students drop out yearly due to
lack of financial resources. Shangri-La Hotel, Changchun pledged to reduce
this to 10% in 2015 through the provision of a strong basic education facility. It
raised funds in 2008, constructed in 2009 and by 2010, opened up the school
to over 140 students. Knowing that they cannot do it alone, the hotel involved
partners from the East Asia Economic and Trade Newspaper and German
37
International School to supplement its commitments. Through this private
cooperation, over 2,000 books and 50 desks and chairs have been made
available to over 140 children and 2 teachers have been enrolled in the
Changchun Teacher's Further Education Institute in July 2010. Furthermore,
this project enticed groups like the Hutchison Whampoa Properties and
various individuals from the German and Japanese communities to develop
their own CSR project with the school. With much success on the first year, the
hotel will continue to upgrade the school‟s facilities such as internet and
multimedia learning points, sustained students' after-school activities
and teacher training and development. By 2020, Xin Jia Primary School should
graduate from the EMBRACE project so that it could pay the assistance
forward, as well as assist other schools.
CSR Programs - Sanctuary
Sanctuary focuses on Shangri-La's Care for Nature Project, which aims to take
a concerted effort to ensure that biodiversity conservation and habitat
protection is consistent across all resorts. Through "sanctuary", each resort
works on an individualized project, which will be further developed, tracked,
monitored and better engage stakeholders (Shangri-La CSR Programs).
For instance, Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, Sultanate of Oman
is home to various species of green and hawksbill turtles, it has carried out a
turtle care project. The resort cares for both species through a dedicated turtle
ranger who ensures that nesting turtles are nurtured during their time ashore
and temporary barriers, which are erected to protect the nests from people
38
walking on the beach, remain in place until the eggs hatch. In the 2009 turtle
season the resort‟s beaches were visited by 85 turtles that laid 6,000 eggs,
while in the 2008 turtle season, 95 turtles laid 9,500 eggs. Apart from these,
the resort is also active in the propagation of almost 100 reef balls, to ensure
that the habitats for all the marine life creatures remain robust and healthy.
Moreover, a five-hectare marine sanctuary in Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and
Spa in the Philippines is home to over 100 species of marine life (130 fish
species and over 50 coral species). What used to be a rock garden is now a
habitat for vibrant species and an eco-lab where staff and guest activities such
as coral & giant clam propagation, reef checking, beach or dive clean-ups and
guided marine sanctuary tours regularly happen. The sanctuary will extend to
approximately 27,000 sqm more of artificial reef as it aims to restore more
species such as seahorses, butterfly fish and various types of parrot fish.
2.2.2 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
With over 4,400 hotels worldwide and more than 1,200 in the pipeline, IHG has
an enormous opportunity to help make tourism responsible, from the energy
used, to the economic opportunities created in the communities. IHG works to
achieve this by treating CR as a strategic business issue, and an integral part
of the vision to become one the world's great companies through its core
purpose, Great Hotels Guests Love. To measure the progress against the
overall goal, IHG focus on four areas:
39
- Financial returns - to generate higher returns for owners and IHG through
increased revenue share, improved operating efficiency and growing
margins.
- Employees - to create hotels that are well run, with brands brought to life by
people who are proud of the job they do.
- Guest experience - to operate a portfolio of brands that are attractive to
owners and guests, and stand for something unique in the eyes of the
market and our guests.
- Responsible business - to take an active stance on environment and
community issues in order to create value for IHG, owners and guests
Internal programs for employee
In accordance with IHG Corporate Responsibility Report (2009), IHG
developed a new training package for staff and owners called Green Engage –
The Fundamentals, 300 people took the refreshed program. This builds on and
replaces the previous Green Aware training course and integrates more fully
with Green Engage and the new corporate management wheel, of which
Corporate Responsibility is one of the segments.
In September 2009, IHG held a Green Day at UK headquarters to raise
awareness of IHG‟s approach to Corporate Responsibility (CR). Activities
included:
- surveying staff to find out what they think about IHG‟s approach to CR
- screening an educational CR documentary
- educating employees on the environmental credentials of our HQ building
40
- promoting the work our staff kitchen is doing to ensure food is sourced
ethically and locally
- providing information on running greener meetings in our conference area
- fundraising for Oxford University‟s conservation project
As communication between employers and employees is vital to success, IHG
did carry out related measures to feedback the employees. For example,
employees told that they would like IHG to focus on reducing waste and then
the company introduced a new efficiency campaign „War on waste‟.
To conclude, the internal programs for employees are quite success in IHG as
feedback from the staff questionnaire told that there is good awareness of CR
at IHG with nearly 90% of staff aware of the online report. Therefore, IHG has
extended the way to use the corporate intranet site „Merlin‟ to ensure all staff
have access to the CR policies, as well as included educational material in our
meetings area to help colleagues run their meetings in a more sustainable
way.
External programs for guests and corporate clients
Encouraging guests to behave responsibly is crucial to the effective
implementation of a corporate sustainability measures. IHG is doing this by
making recommendations to its hotels through Green Engage, such as:
- using signage, literature and helpful front-of-house staff to draw attention to
the green efforts of the hotel and encourage guests to participate
- promoting local sustainability shops, activities and alternative means of
transport so that guests‟ environmentally conscious choices permeate into
41
the surrounding economy
- providing guests with feedback on their energy and resource usage in a
friendly, informative manner.
Also through Green Engage, IHG can capture how its different hotels around
the world engage with guests on environmental issues in order to share
learning across the Group. One of the initiatives helping to bring responsible
tourism principles to life for guests is the partnership with National Geographic.
In 2011, the core purpose of IHG is to create Great Hotels Guests Love.
Feedback from the guests who stay in its hotels is therefore central to its CR
strategy. Also, the investment in consumer insight research confirms that CR is
important to the majority of customers. As IHG update CR report every quarter,
stakeholders can check on its progress throughout the year. Moreover, by
visiting the virtual Innovation Hotel, stakeholders also get a chance to take part
in creating their ideal hotel by sharing ideas on how to make a hotel greener.
Recently, a growing number of the corporate clients are setting themselves
sustainability targets and look for help to achieve them. IHG provide corporate
clients with details of its own carbon footprint when they choose to do business
with IHG. At the same time it has set a strategic objective of making every
guest's stay at one of its hotels more carbon efficient (IHG Corporate
Responsibility Report, 2011).
42
2.3 Importance of CSR to hotels’ competitiveness
CSR activities may not directly, but rather indirectly impact firm performance,
meaning that possible factors may mediate impacts of CSR activities on firm
performance. According to the stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984), CSR
activities may enhance brand image, not only for customers, but also for
employees and other stakeholders. Therefore, such activities can
subsequently enhance customers‟ satisfaction, employees‟ morale and
retention rates, and relationships with governments, and then, the hotel‟s
competitiveness.
2.3.1 Financial performance
Along with the growing concern for CSR of general public and corporate
attention to CSR issues, the hospitality industry has indicated an ever
increasing interest in CSR. In accordance with Kang, Lee and Huh (2009), the
number of CSR and environmental news items on a hospitality industry web
site, Hospitality Net, increased from 63 in 1999 to 139 in 2007 with 10.4%
compound annual growth rate while the number of overall news only increased
with just a 2.8% compound annual growth rate. More leading hospitality
companies exclusively provide CSR related reports, e.g. Hilton, Starwood, etc.
According to Post et al. (2002), a firm‟s capacity that generates sustainable
wealth over time and its long-term value are determined by the relationship
with both internal and external stakeholders. CSR, if it contributes to
enhancing firm value, can be an appropriate corporate strategy as the
43
stakeholder theory suggests, not an exploitation of shareholders‟ wealth to
benefit other parties, as Friedman (1970) worried.
Nicolau (2008) employed an event study that examined abnormal returns of
two Spanish hotels with 26 CSR-relater announcements during the 1996-2006
period. The study found positive abnormal returns and concluded that CSR is
considered value-added to hotel firms.
2.3.2 Employee satisfaction
Douglas Klein , President of Sirota Survey Intelligence said, “Businesses that
recognize the importance of social responsibility often have employees who
tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, adopt similar values, and become
more committed to achieving success within the industry,” (Amble, 2007, May).
While employees may not base their job decisions on CSR programs, almost
half (46%) still believe it is important for organizations to have such initiatives
in place. They also seem to appreciate opportunities to invest in the
community when they are given the chance. Among the 46% of workers who
work for an organization with a CSR program, nearly two-thirds participate.
Peg Buchenroth, senior vice president of human resources, Hudson, said
“While the return on investment (ROI) of a CSR initiative is tough to determine,
employees expect their employers to give back to the community and value
the opportunity to be a part of that. In addition, participating in a charitable
activity not only builds strong team dynamics but also makes an individual feel
like he or she is helping the organization give back to society” (Amble, 2007,
44
August). Employees who are satisfied with their organization's CSR record are
likely to be more positive, more engaged and more productive than those
working for less responsible employers.
According to the survey by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Amble, 2007, May), a
strong commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an impact on a
wide range of employee attitudes, and about 70% employees gave their
employer's commitment to CSR the thumbs-up. The survey showed that
employees who are satisfied with their organization's commitment to social
and environmental responsibility are likely to be more positive, more engaged
and more productive than those working for less responsible employers.
Employees‟ views of CSR are connected with a broader assessment of the
character of senior leadership – meaning that management can be relied on to
follow through on what they say. However, leaders who are seen as incapable
of following through are unlikely to be regarded as being socially responsible.
60% of employees who are satisfied with their employer's CSR commitment
feel that senior management has a strong sense of direction compared to just
18% in less enlightened organizations.
Moreover, effective leaders enhance the satisfaction of employees. When
employees question the time or money spent on certain social initiatives or any
other activities, an effective leader will demonstrate the strategic importance
these programs play in supporting the interests of the business. The effect of
these positive attitudes on employees‟ engagement is startling. When
employees are positive about their organization's CSR commitment,
employees‟ engagement rises to 86%. When employees are negative about
45
their employer's CSR activities, only 37% are highly engaged.
All in all, people want to be associated with a successful organization that has
a positive image. Employees do not divide the moral compass of their
company into one part for employees and another part for the community. The
employers' commitment to corporate social responsibility is critical in
conveying that the organization acts in their best interests, and is dedicated to
treating them fairly and equitably. To employees, CSR and business success
go together, companies that enhance their reputations through CSR perform
better, and generate greater employee loyalty from workers.
2.3.3 Customer satisfaction
According to Anderson, Fornell and Mazvancheryl (2004), customer
satisfaction is defined as an overall evaluation based on the customer‟s total
purchase and consumption experience with a good or service over time.
Several marketing studies have found that social responsibility programs have
a significant influence on several customer-related outcomes (Bhattacharya
and Sen, 2003). Besides, CSR is reported to affect, either directly or indirectly,
consumer product responses (Brown and Dacin, 1997), customer–company
identification (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001), customer donations to nonprofit
organizations (Lichtenstein, Drumwright and Bridgette, 2004), and customers‟
product attitude (Berens, Riel and Bruggen, 2005).
In the marketing literature, customer satisfaction has been recognized as an
important part of corporate strategy and a key driver of firm long-term
46
profitability and market value (Gruca and Rego, 2005). A hotel‟s CSR
initiatives can lead to greater customer satisfaction.
Firstly, both institutional theory (Scott, 1987) and stakeholder theory (Maignan
and Ferrell, 2005) suggested that a company‟s actions appeal to the
multidimensionality of the consumer as not only an economic being but also a
member of a family, community, and country (Handelman and Arnold, 1999).
Building on this, Daub and Ergenzinger (2005) proposed the term “generalized
customer” to denote people who are not only customers who care about the
consumption experience but also actual or potential members of various
stakeholder groups that companies need to consider. Viewed in this way, such
generalized customers are likely to be more satisfied by products and services
that socially responsible firms (versus socially irresponsible counterparts)
offer.
Secondly, a strong record of CSR creates a favorable context that positively
boosts consumers‟ evaluations of and attitude toward the firm (Sen and
Bhattacharya, 2001). Specifically, recent works on customer–company
identification (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003) suggested that CSR initiatives
constitute a key element of corporate identity that can induce customers to
develop a sense of connection with the company. Indeed, Lichtenstein,
Drumwright and Bridgette (2004, pp 17) noted that “a way that CSR initiatives
create benefits for companies appears to be by increasing consumers‟
identification with the corporation … [and] support for the company.” Not
surprisingly, identified customers are more likely to be satisfied with a firm‟s
offerings.
47
Lastly, customers likely derive better perceived value and, consequently,
higher satisfaction from a product that is made by a socially responsible
company, that is, added value through good social causes. Furthermore,
engaging in CSR may allow firms to understand their generalized customers
better and thus improve their customer-specific knowledge (Sen and
Bhattacharya 2001). As improving customer knowledge represents another
antecedent that has been found to enhance customer satisfaction, therefore,
CSR initiatives may help promote customer satisfaction.
To conclude, consumers are increasingly more concerned with how
companies make their money and are expecting businesses to be responsible
for their social, ethical, and environmental impacts on society and the
community (Lane, 2006).
2.4 Challenges to the hotel industry
2.4.1 Financial aspect
It is very important for a hotel to think CSR and manage CSR activities. But it is
not easy to carry out because of a lack of financial resource, human resources
who have qualification of environmental studies, or other resource. Big hotel
chains, e.g. Hilton InterContinental, etc. can afford to pay these, for example
hire human resource or educate employees. However, other small hotels
sometimes cannot carry out, but they have to do it because it is requirement of
their stakeholders.
48
According to a recent study (Park and Lee, 2009), the effect of CSR decreases
accounting performance at the first stage, but it becomes positive as the level
of CSR investment increases at the second stage. The findings suggests that
the cost of CSR activities is initially greater than the benefits the company can
obtain in terms of accounting numbers. However, over time the investment
seems to pay off, perhaps because it takes time for customers, employees,
governments, and the public to recognize and appreciate the company‟s CSR
activities. Therefore, in terms of financial performance, management should
take a long-term perspective for its CSR investment.
2.4.2 Ethical aspect
The hospitality industry is made up of many companies who are run by
business people. Business people who put short-term profits ahead of concern
for the long-term health of the company or who make additional profits by
failing to spend the money necessary to handle toxic waste or pollution
resulting from the manufacturing process, are not professionals and harm the
reputation of the industry as a profession (Jaszay and Dunk, 2006).
There are many important doubts about the validity of the announced CSR
investments, despite the seeming attractiveness of this approach. For example,
there is a lack of consensus on what should be included or excluded in CSR
investments (Margolis and Walsh 2003). Few companies have their
announced CSR investments audited or validated externally by third parties.
Thus, some hotels may over report the CSR investments for impression
49
management that exaggerating their giving. Other firms may underreport CSR
investments because they may regard CSR investments only as donated cash
or in-kind products and services, which exclude investments that benefit the
environment and their employees.
Berner (2005) stated that although some external sources, e.g. 100 best
corporate citizens by Business Ethics, may track companies‟ CSR investments
objectively, the nature and amount of CSR investments for the same firm can
change dramatically from one source to another.
Furthermore, the expansion of social responsible investment (SRI, which
finances CSR activities) market means that CSR activities including societal,
environmental consciousness and economical are accepted in our society, but
it is also possible to think that some firms use these thinking as strategic tools.
It is not so problematic, but a problem is that stakeholders are regarded as
tools to gain profit or use stakeholders as tools. In other words, economical
perspective is a higher rank perspective than societal and environmental
consciousness, which is only the tool for gaining it. The firm has taken only
financial aspect into account, so concentrates on only profit.
50
Part 3: Summary and Conclusions
3.1 Summary
With this study, it provides a plenty of information related to corporate social
responsibility. To summarize, CSR can be anything from making sure staff
have the right ergonomic chair at work, to strategic development of a
sustainable business. The ultimate aim is introducing best practices or giving
something back to the wider community.
It is important for both large and small companies to carry out CSR programs.
Although larger companies benefitted more from high CSR ratings, smaller
hotel chains and independent hotels may be able to implement environmental
and social policies easier than the larger companies. Apart from these, a good
reputation can draw new customers and workers and help to raise staff morale
(Redford, 2005). As doing business with companies that have good CSR
reputations is becoming a preference for many consumers. Hotels can flexibly
implement their own strategic CSR programs in order to maximize their
competiveness among the others.
In conclusion, CSR requires organizations to demonstrate responsible
business conduct that does no harm in the marketplace, in the workplace, in
the community they operate in, and to the natural environment (Roberts, 2007).
The actions of business impact the local, national, and global community, so
businesses have a responsibility to ensure that the impact is positive (Paton,
2007).
51
3.2 Recommendations
As talked in the reason for choice of topic, Hong Kong seems falling behind on
the development of CSR comparing with US or European countries, especially
for small hotels. After referencing the current CSR programs that the industry
is doing, the following are some recommendations:
First of all, social and environmental perspectives are not instruments to gain
profits. Environmental and social perspectives could be connected with core
competence of a firm. Schepers and Sethi (2003) suggested that there are so
many different criteria to evaluate CSR activities and standards. The industry
has to develop rating system of CSR. The managements in hospitality firms
should have strategic insight for CSR‟s beneficial impact on increasing firm
value by taking into account legal stakeholders. When making strategic
decisions, the managements should predict the varying impacts of positive and
negative CSR activities on financial performance in the industry. In a recent
study (Kang, Lee and Huh, 2009), its results confirmed the positive effect in
hotel industry, the primary action for hotels should be taken to increase positive
CSR activities rather than reduce negative CSR activities. To employees,
providing equal opportunities and fair conditions, and maintaining a safe and
worker-friendly work environment are examples of positive CSR activities.
Furthermore, when establishing a CSR strategy, managements should be
cautious about the possibility of the tendency that more weights are placed on
positive CSR activities than negative CSR activities by stakeholders including
consumers, employees, suppliers, communities and investors that can
52
influence firm value. Therefore, concentrating on increasing positive CSR
activities rather than reducing negative ones would be a more appropriate
CSR strategy. More specifically, they should prepare CSR investment plans
considering long-term effect that compensates the implementation with firm
value evaluated by market rather than expecting short-term profitability.
53
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Reflective Statement
After completing the tests which identified the personal strengths and
weaknesses, the author has a better self-understanding about her learning
style, personality and team role. Those test results are consistent to the
author‟s own perception and agreed by her family and friends. Also, the tests
recommended some suggestions for improvement and allow the author to
justify her career choice for the nearest future.
Referring to the author‟s learning preferences, VARK stated that she is
multimodal, which is in the majority, as approximately 60% of any population
fits that category. However, even in a multimodal, there are differences
between each category. The author‟s read/write ability is relatively lower than
the others. It reflects that the author is weak at reading information displayed
with only words. This may affect the working performance who works as a
receptionist. As receptionist greets guests very often, she should be well
prepared to satisfy guests‟ enquiries by gathering as much information as
possible by reading. Therefore, the author has to put more effort to improve
her reading skills. Also, to be a manager, writing reports and handling massive
paper works are needed. The author should also read more articles, books,
journals, etc. in order to improve her writing skills if she wants to be a front
office manager. Even though the author may change her career in the future,
she can still make use of her strengths in other fields as many works need
these abilities.
63
Besides, referring to the author‟s personality, MBTI stated that she is
people-oriented who has excellent people skills because of good
understanding and caring about people. She simply wants to have good
relationship with all people around and build up a harmonic environment. This
characteristic can help her to develop the career easier as the hospitality
industry is also people-oriented, having good impression and being sociable to
the others are important.
Also, she can handle many different things at the same time. For instance, the
author will apply to be a receptionist after graduated. Receptionist needs to
handle check-in and check-out, guests‟ enquiries, bookings, etc. There are
quite heavy workloads for the receptionist, therefore, having great amount of
ability to master different works and get things well-organized can enhance the
authors‟ competitiveness among the others. Also, working in the hospitality
industry requires team work spirit. The author needs to work well with her
colleagues to complete the tasks and provide excellent service to guests. The
personality of people-oriented helps her in this criteria a lot.
The greatest weakness of the author is being indecisive. Her mother, her
friends and herself agree that she always spends too much time to make
decision. However, to act as a manager, decision making is vital in the role
because plenty of problems need to be solved by the leader. The author
should improve her critical thinking skills in order to analyze and tackle with
problems.
64
Moreover, referring to the author‟s team role, Belbin Inventory Self-Perception
stated that she is a team worker. Her overall style is a well-equipped team
player, she has the ability to offer well-informed support and advice to others.
This team role is good for the author if she wants to be a manager in the future.
Most likely, team worker managers are seen as a threat to no one and
therefore the most accepted and favored people to serve under. A harmonic
working environment can be built. However, the test also stated that the author
may be uncomfortable when having to deal with pressure. For example, a
receptionist needs to deal with complex problems or complaints from guests.
This kind of situations occurred very often in hospitality industry, the author can
learn from the colleagues or teachers who have related experiences, having
more discussion with them can widen her horizon and get preparation both
mentally and physically. From time to time, the author believes that she can
handle duties and deal with problems well under pressure.
Both innate and acquired characteristics, and learning from external
environment, e.g. school, extra-curricular activities or workplace are vital for
one‟s career development. The author has planned her own lifelong planning
to enhance her abilities in order to fulfill her dream as she knows that her
current transferable skills are not enough for her to take the role as a front
office manager in the management team.
Last but not least, the author did not hesitate to choose a topic of the study
after having self-understanding and clear direction for her career goal. The
topic is about corporate social responsibility in hospitality industry. Although
65
this topic is not very common in Hong Kong comparing with the US and
European countries, it is worth to do the topic as it will be more familiar to the
general public from time to time as protecting the earth planet is an important
issue nowadays. Also, if a hotel does its corporate social responsibility well, it
not only does its obligation as an enterprise of the society, but it can also gain a
valuable asset – good reputation which is vital to a company to develop its
business smoothly. All in all, by doing this paper, the author did know more and
has more understanding about the industry.