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The Marriott Approach vs. Commodity Approach

Decent Essays

The Marriott Corporation, one of the nation's largest hotel management companies, has long professed to adhere to the philosophy that, "Good personnel will work for a competent manager. Go to every length to find, hire, and train good employees and treat them like your family. This is the crux of your whole operation (Marriott Corporation, 1964)." The Marriott Corporation has adopted this position as its management philosophy for nearly fifty years but it runs contrary to the opposing management philosophy that basically treats employees as units, or commodities, which exist as units to be strategically managed. The commodity approach argues that treating employees in such fashion keeps the quality of their work consistent and avoids the possibility of psychological and interpersonal dysfunctions in the workplace. The Marriott approach is argued by many modern human resource managers as the more enlightened one. The traditional approach emphasized the human capital view of employees where employees were viewed as resources that were utilized by the business to provide monetary return and stability to the organization. It was the responsibility of the organization's managers to use the individual knowledge, skills and abilities of the employee in order to maximize the organization's productivity. The traditional view did not attempt to create a family atmosphere within the organization. Everyone had his or her responsibility and everyone's value to the organization was

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