Investors in People and Business Excellence in the United Arab Emirates Part 2: From BE to IIP — a Case Study

Mar 21, 2017

Alaa Garad, Investors in People, United Arab Emirates
Fiona Martis, Independent Management Consultant, United Arab Emirates

International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy and Research 2017, Vol 2 No 1: 67-79
doi: 10.22324/ijhrdppr.2.106

Interesting developments are taking place in the United Arab Emirates in relation to national and organizational HRD policy and practice. These focus upon an approach which seeks to build upon and ultimately integrate standards drawn from the models of Business Excellence (BE) and Investors in People (IIP). In this the second of a two-part article a case study is presented which illustrates the combined benefits of the two standards. The article draws out the practice initiatives and achievements taken by the case organization — a large hotel in Abu Dhabi — in developing from BE to IIP. An integrated model offers national and organizational HRD a challenging but exciting prospect. Potential benefits in seeking to apply such an organization development approach go beyond a mere aggregation of IIP and BE. A key implication is the development of an understanding of how the two models can work together.

Key Words: business excellence, EFQM, IIP, HRD, organization development, hospitality, UAE

Introduction
This article attempts to illustrate how working with the Business Excellence Model (BEM) and Investors in People (IIP) can help organizations to succeed in fulfilling their mission. Key links between BEM and IIP were highlighted and discussed in part one of this article (Garad, 2016). The aim of part two is to take stock of the practices that have been employed in a case study from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and which illustrate the combined benefits of the two international standards i.e. IIP and BEM.

A single case study organization, the Millennium Corniche Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is the subject of this research. A qualitative approach was adopted to investigate and understand the links between both models and draw out the practice initiatives and achievements taken by the hotel in developing from ‘business excellence’ to IIP. Several methods were used in data collection including participant observer methods, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document review.

By using the IIP framework on the back of the Business Excellence (BE) model, the case study organization experienced positive impact on their people development practices and witnessed benefits such as improved organization culture, increased customer satisfaction, employee engagement and savings on cost in recruitment and other areas. The article first discusses the development process from BE to IIP. It then explores one case study in detail before drawing conclusions about the relationship between and benefits of BE and IIP for organizational and national HRD.

BE and IIP: Recap

The concept of Business Excellence (BE) has its origins in the quality movement in post-WWII Japan. Over the years, this movement gave rise to several approaches and frameworks that organizations could adopt with a view to enhance their quality and performance. One such widely-used BE framework is the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), that defines BE as:

Outstanding practices in managing the organization and achieving results based on a set of fundamental concepts which will include: result orientation, customer focus, leadership, and constancy of purpose, management by processes and facts, involvement of people, continuous improvement and innovation, mutually beneficial partnership, and corporate social responsibility
(EFQM, 2003: 33).

The UAE has embraced BE as a means to foster its competitiveness in an international arena by focusing on a culture of quality and excellence.
IIP is a holistic framework for people management established by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills in the early 1990s that defines what it takes to lead, support and effectively manage people for sustainable results. The IIP Standard has been reviewed and updated regularly to respond to and reflect the changes in management best practices. Organizations that adopt the Standard may elect to either apply for accreditation or not. If they choose to apply for formal accreditation by IIP, they are then subject to assessments and, if successful, will be recognized at one of the following Accreditation levels: ‘Accredited’, ‘Silver’, ‘Gold’ or ‘Platinum’.

Organizations in the UAE are using IIP to progress beyond BE and enhance their learning and performance capabilities.

The Journey in Practice: The Millennium Corniche Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Company background

The Millennium Corniche Hotel in Abu Dhabi is a five-star property that opened its doors in the Emirate in the year 2002. It is part of the Millennium Hotels and Resorts, an international chain of hotels that was founded in 1989 by its Chairman, Kwek Leng Beng, of Singapore’s Hong Leong Group. The Millennium Hotels and Resorts currently operate 63 properties globally in 18 countries. In the UAE, they manage six properties spread across three Emirates. The Millennium Corniche Hotel has a staff strength of 200 employees and is one of two Millennium properties in Abu Dhabi. It is the first of the Group’s properties in the Middle East to apply for IIP accreditation.

From BE to IIP

In 2007, the hotel achieved the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) which is based on EFQM’s nine criteria. This award was the beginning of the culture change and journey to excellence that was later complemented by embarking on the strategic implementation of 69
the IIP Standard. When the hotel achieved the SKEA the management realized that the award model is very comprehensive and yet there was still a lot to be done to accomplish the hotel’s objectives and become one of the leading organizations in Abu Dhabi. Indeed, the BEM/SKEA assessors had documented a need for further engagement of people, more financial and non-financial recognition, linking training and L&D activities to the hotel’s mission and objectives, further involvement of senior management with people, and measuring the return on investment in training.

In subsequent years, competition within the hospitality sector intensified. Plans for new hotels in Abu Dhabi brought the realization that the hotel would have to contend with luxury brands in an increasingly fierce market. They acknowledged the fact that further changes would need to be made within the hotel to stay competitive and that the changes begun with BE needed progression and enhancement The potential of IIP was introduced to the hotel. A change in senior management in 2014 provided a stimulus for action. A new General Manager (GM) was appointed, who had personally experienced the success of IIP in the UK. Aware of the potential benefits of the Investors in People framework and the links between IIP and Business Excellence he believed that focusing on people development and continuous learning could lead to a positive shift in the organizational culture and thus further propel the hotel’s journey to excellence. A priority for the GM was to bring in operational excellence in people’s daily practice as he believed that “it is all about people”. He took the position that whilst the SKEA model gave the holistic coverage of all aspect of organizational excellence, the particular context of the hotel necessitated more focus on people considering the nature of business and the competition it was facing. Areas of the operation where it was felt required further development were people engagement and ensuring ownership and alignment of learning and development activities to the hotel’s mission and strategic objectives.

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