Lemon Tree Hotels PwD Initiative: Challenges and Strategies

Identifying the Problem and Key Decision Makers

Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd. (Lemon Tree), headquartered in New Delhi, pursuing socially proactive initiatives - activities, processes, and systems are included in Lemon Tree’s initiative of employing persons with disability (PwD).

• In January 2017, Aradhana Lal, vice-president (VP) of sustainability initiatives, wanted to find the right way to ensure that Lemon Tree to achieve its goal of mainstreaming opportunity-deprived Indians (ODIs), comprising mainly PwD.

• Lal was increasing the percentage of ODIs in Lemon Tree’s total workforce from 23 per cent to 45 per cent and faces some key issues:

– From where would Lemon Tree recruit these employees, and what kinds of disabilities would the initiative need to be open to?

– What costs would it incur in doing so?

– What roles and departments would PwD be hired for, and how well would they work in integrated teams?

– Most importantly, would Lemon Tree be able to preserve its sustainability framework, which rests on three key pillars of profit, planet, and people (i.e., the triple bottom line)?

Evaluate whether for-profit organizations can profitably pursue socially proactive initiatives as part of their business model;

• Devise various strategies for shifting from tokenism to creating an inclusive workforce and systematically building organizational capabilities toward mainstreaming PwD;

• Provide a reasonable course of action that balances factual, emotional and ethical premises; and

• Understand the role and impact of the leader’s vision in framing future strategies.

1. Identify the problem; the key decision maker; Lemon Tree’s main customers, competition, and stakeholders; and its current business life cycle stage. How has the PwD initiative grown over the years? Is it viable for Lemon Tree to pursue the objective of having ODI employees represent 45% of all employees? Why or why not?

2. What factors are crucial to the success of Lemon Tree’s initiative? What factors might be stumbling blocks?

3. Devise a strategy and framework to help Lemon Tree achieve its target.

Task 1

Identify the problem; the key decision maker; Lemon Tree’s main customers, competition, and stakeholders; and its current business life cycle stage. How has the PwD initiative grown over the years? Is it viable for Lemon Tree to pursue the objective of having ODI employees represent 45% of all employees? Why or why not?

• What is the problem statement?

• Who is the key decision maker

• What is Lemon Tree’s market segment? Who are its customers?

• How has the PwD initiative grown over the years?

Stakeholders?

How has the PwD initiative grown over the years?

At what stage of the business life cycle is Lemon Tree currently?

Is the 45% target a reasonable goal to begin with?

• What are some of the business benefits of this initiative?

• If the initiative makes sound business sense, why has no competitor pursued such a strategy?

• Should a for-profit enterprise engage in a social initiative?

• Isn’t the firm’s responsibility primarily to its shareholders?