Thesis (Master in Management) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, June 2016.

The Edifice is the first and only premier luxury hotel in Mindanao offering a unique blend of Western and Asian comforts. It stands at the center of the city?s business district offering 245 elegant rooms an suits with five restaurants offering international buffet and a la carte, Cantonese delight, and one of a kind fine dining experience. It has also a classic bar, fitness center, and swimming pool enlisted in its wide array of amenities. Its six function rooms and two ballrooms are ideal venues for meetings and events. A landmark in Davao City, it is positioned to contribute to the growth of Davao and Mindanao as a premier destination in the Philippines. The birth of new players in the hospitality industry in Mindanao region has also impacted the talent retention of the Edifice. As it is the only premier deluxe hotel in the region, competitors have eyed on the Edifice as its ready pool of talents. True enough, in 2012-2014, attrition rate has climbed up to 24% due to associates leaving Edifice to join new hotels and other industries. Probing into this management concern the level of associate engagement has been analyzed and based on the annual associate engagement survey, results have shown a downward trend since 2010. It is interesting to note that despite the dipping associate engagement, the hotel has been regaining it strength in revenue since 2015. How much more if the Edifice has highly-engaged, committed, ad loyal employees? This paper aims to propose strategies to improve the Edifice?s human resources systems and processes, reinforce its compensation and benefits practices, and enhance its leadership capacity. These strategies are linked to total business performance and geared towards achieving international standards of hospitality executed by a highlyengaged human resource. This paper also reviews the four functional areas of the Edifice- marketing, finance, operations, and human resources. However, this strategic plan puts more emphasis on human resource management as essential contributor to the total business performance of the company. In due course, this paper aims to contribute to the limited literature of strategic human resources management in the hospitality industry ? in Davao Region and in Mindanao. The first chapter captures a strategic management process flow which has been employed in this paper. It touches base with understanding the profile of the Edifice, its present situation with respect to general performance, issues, and challenges , and a suitable conceptual framework that gives a snapshot of internal and external environment scanning, goal setting, strategy identification, program implementation, and evaluation. The internal positioning of the Edifice is reviewed in the second chapter which underlined its financial strength despite some challenges in talent retention, associate engagement, and systems and processes. Chapter three scans the external environment and highlights the Edifice?s maximization of opportunities in reinventing talent retention strategies in response to threats of competition. Based on the foregoing premise, the objectives were set in chapter four to include an increase in associate engagement score of 8.0 and talent retention of 90% or attrition rate of below 24% annually. In chapter five, the strategic options were identified. These were sensibly generated from the analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats matrix as aligned to the established corporate vision, mission, and goals. From the numerous options, interrelated strategies have been clustered and streamlined with the aid of Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix s follows: 1) improvement of systems and processes and redirecting HR initiatives on talent retention strategies, learning and growth, and associate engagement program; 2) enhancement of managerial capacity through management programs. the implementing programs follow in chapter six which plots the schedule of activities and logistical requirements needed in the execution of HR programs. the integrated financial projection assumes that the implementation of these programs may not directly impact net income but with its effect on the associates? high performance, this will translate into financial results in the long run. The control systems are established in the last chapter to ensure these programs are monitored and evaluated and are constantly aligned to business performance. This paper is written in essence to edify the Edifice.