Change Processes Adopted By The Hospitality Industry: A Study

Research Design

Discuss about the Report on Organizational Change and Development.

Change helps the companies and organizations to achieve sustainable development. Exposure of appropriate attitude towards adopting change assists in attracting large number of customers. In the process of adopting change, the focus is on preservation of the organizational values in case of the employees (Anderson 2016). The previous sentene reflects the correlation between the change and the development, the two variables of the subject matter of the assignment. This report attempts to peek into the change processes adopted by the hospitality industry. Special emphasis is given on the reaction of the employees towards adoption of the changes in an efficient and effective manner.

One retail organization and three other organizations in the hospitality industry were selected. This is because they are similar in their scope and arena, which helps in the development of comparative study. The approach here was to create a set of 11 open ended questions for interviewing the employees. The nature of the interview was 1 on 1, which was suitable in terms of gaining an insight into the approach of the employees towards change (Aarons et al. 2015). As a matter of specification, in the first part, X-front end cashier, front end cashier, executive manager were asked questions regarding their perception towards change. The second part consisted of the interview questions posed to the Front of House of the Barista restaurant, dishy Front of the House and cook. These questions attempted to excavate the ways and means used for achieving the changes. The third part of the interview involved the employees. They were also asked to narrate their experiences regarding the proposed changes and their implementation (Cameron and Green 2015).

Among the employees, 4 males belonging to the age group of 30-45 and 8 females belonging to the age group of 16-50 were selected as samples. Both the male and female employees were selected based on their adaptability towards change. This is considered in terms of the fact that the higher authorities are more adaptable to change, as they play an important part in implementing the proposed changes. This reflects the usage of probability method for selecting the samples.

Graphs were used for analyzing the responses provided by the samples. For preparing the graphs, all of the staffs were involved. Herein lays the effectiveness of communication, which was one of the means used for analyzing the gathered information (Zhao et al. 2016). Although there were time constraints, attempts were made to maintain liberal approach towards the samples for gathering the required data. In the process of analysis, the resistance towards adopting the changes was also considered. Therefore, it is implied that primary methods for the analyzing the collected data.

Data Collection and Analysis

For creating the presentation on action research related to change management, the team members divided the matter into separate slides. In the first slide, topic along with the cover page was placed. This slide also consisted of the names of the team members, their roles in the presentation and the key question, which they would address in the research. The next slide consisted of the introduction, stating the purpose of the presentation and its scope.  The following slide reflects the organizational types selected for the research (Aarons et al. 2015). Research design finds place in the next slide, followed by the slide consisting of the research approach and data collection. In the next slide, the sample size for the research is highlighted. The slide after this directly projects the attempts of the team members towards revealing the organizational levels and the demographics.

The anticipated findings gathered by the team members are placed in the next slide. In the following slides, the team members provide an insight into the concept of change and the behaviors associated with it. At a later stage of the presentation, the team members highlight the theoretical considerations towards change (Al-Haddad and Kotnour 2015).  The following slide is the reflection of the team members regarding the strategic approach towards the presentation. The later slides of the presentation consist of recommendations, followed by citation of the sources and appendix respectively. Teamwork acted as an agent towards the presentation being successful.

Each member was asked to reflect on the ways and means adopted for implementing the change. Here, time management strategy was considered. The means of social media was used for communicating with the team members regarding the plans and programs. Tracks were maintained for keeping the members updated about the latest trends and activities. For preparing the presentation, all of the staffs were involved in a meeting (Lord et al. 2015). In this meeting, the past performance of the retail organizations in the hospitality industry was taken into consideration. The staffs were made aware responses provided by the samples regarding the questions asked. Along with this, theories related to the aspect of change management were also considered to be included within the presentation.

The employees at the high post exposed positive attitude towards accepting the proposed changes. 67% of the employees were male and the rest 33% were females. The positions considered ranged from managers of the upper level to dishy. The numerical projection for the upper level managers is 25%. In the response of the X Front end cashier, dissatisfaction regarding organizing unproductive meetings is highlighted. Front end cashier points out the importance of social media, which brought noticeable changes in the business (Vakola 2014).

Findings

The CEO considered him as the main driver of change rather than implementer. According to him, logical thinking helps in achieving positive outcomes in business. The Front of House of Barista narrated a bad experience as the café went into the hands of new owners. The Dishy Front of House also underwent the same tragedy due to the change in ownership. For the cook, the change is worse as the leaders and bosses have changed. They are not at all cooperative, which has aggravated his complexities.

One of the casual employees points out the recruitment of a new manager. His approach has created negative vibes within the employees. One of the other employees shed light on the hostile relationship between the new and the old manager (Presbitero and Teng 2017). Communication gains prominence in the statements of the assistant manager. As per the viewpoints of store manager, changes occur every 6 months. Online orders are the most recent change in the store. The assistant manager is elated on the installation of new software for preparing roasters of the employees. The driver stresses on the adoption of a new tracking device, which aggravated the complexities in terms of adjusting in the workplace environment.

Acceptance towards change is crucial before implementing them. In most of the cases, it is seen that the employees hesitate to accept the proposed changes. This is because they fear that the traditionalism of the organization would be altered. However, communication acts as assurance for the employees in terms of accepting the changes (Church and Waclawski 2017). This communication includes social media, emails and others, which informs the employees about the latest trends and activities.

Planning is crucial in terms of convincing the staffs about the change. Rationality in the plans results in less resistance towards adopting the change. The plans need to be strong and flexible, so that it can solve the problems, which arise during the process of executing the business activities. One of an important concept in this direction is the time constraints. The personnel need to remember that there is a deadline, within which they have to fulfill the needs of the clients. They are very well aware of the fact that change in the ways and means of executing the activities would attract the clients (Al-Haddad and Kotnour 2015). Under such situation, resistance acts as an obstacle. Negligence in this direction compels the personnel to encounter issues like communication gaps, inability to recognize the intensity of change, lack of time for planning, difficulty of the lower level staffs in carrying out the allocated duties and responsibilities, inadequate time for achieving effective and efficient solutions.

Behaviors Towards Change

If change is to be adopted, a process needs to be followed. At the initial stage, the agent needs to be selected through which the change would be achieved. This can be done through the internal or external agents. In case of this research, the agents of change were inadequate. In addition to this, the employees were incompetent towards adopting the change. The second step is developing the change relationship. Maintaining stable relationship is crucial in terms of carrying out productive output. However, in this research, the lower level employees suffered difficulties in communicating with the managers (Schumacher et al. 2016). There was no one to sympathize with their problems, which generated negative environment in the workplace. Countering this, if the change is to be achieved, all the personnel needs to be involved.

Identification of the target group improves the focus of the personnel in terms of carrying out the business activities. The lower level employees lacked adequate skills in identifying the target group. They were hesitant towards accepting the change, as they feared that they would lose the jobs and would suffer from stress. This inability inculcated the sense of failure within them. Clarification of the doubts is one of the other important steps in the adoption of change (Dixon 2017). This clarification makes the employees aware of the appropriate approach towards implementing the change. Mixed clarification process was used for bringing the change, which proved ineffective in terms of solving the problems.

Unfreeze; change and refreeze are the three important components of the model. Unfreeze involves the possibility that the employees regarding determination of the changes, which can be adopted. Here, strong support is needed from the management for the achievement of change in an efficient and effective manner. As a matter of specification, the intensity of change needs to be explained to the lower level employees (Alvesson and Sveningsson 2015). This is in terms of getting the appropriate attitude towards achieving the change. The data collected is the evidence towards the provision of adequate support by the manager.

Communication was the cornerstone in terms of making the lower level employees acquainted with the change agents. In this, the staffs who would be most affected by the change, were also involved. This involvement provided a proper direction to the planned projects, enhancing the productivity. In the refreeze stage, attempts were made to retain the positive changes. This was in terms of maintaining the workplace culture and preventing resilience among the employees towards adopting change (Elstak et al. 2015).

Theoretical Considerations

Kotter proposes eight steps for achieving change. The first step is to create urgency for gaining an insight into the intensity of change. The second step involves creation of a strong and efficient team, which possesses flexibility to work diligently towards achieving the proposed changes. After the team is created, the vision towards achieving the change needs to be clearly explained to the team members. All these steps create the climate for change. Communicating the vision towards change, empowering action and creating quick wins are the methods, which enable the employees and staffs to engage into the process of adopting change (Boje 2015). Developing strategic plans and sticking to the plans helps the personnel to implement the proposed changes and sustain the positive ones.

I think strategic approach towards the allotted time proved beneficial in achieving positive outcomes. I think Messenger proved fruitful in terms of informing the members about the meetings, which have been scheduled for completion of the data collection. We took notes of the important points related to the proposed changes. I liked the group discussion on preparation of the interview questions. This group work was crucial also for deciding the most suitable ones. I feel the evaluation was an essential process in terms of assessing the effectiveness, appropriateness and feasibility of the role, which we played in the execution of the research.

Overall, the process went well, although team unity was lacking in the process of preparing questions for the interview. Here, the quality of the research work attains a negative connotation (Alvesson and Sveningsson 2015). This is in terms of strengthening the base for bringing changes in the workplace environment. Specifically, changes within the organization would be a creative step towards altering the workplace scenario. This is in terms of attracting more customers. Using the social media is one of an effective means for bringing changes in the workplace activities. Within this, the managers need to be aware of the latest and modern technologies for reaching to the customers and their needs (Dixon 2017).

Conclusion

This report proves successful in providing an insight into the change management and development. Interviewing the employees of the retail organizations of the hospitality industry enlivens the ways and means adopted for achieving the changes. Presentation for all the literature review and the methodology reflects the approach of the employees towards adopting the proposed changes. Theoretical consideration towards change management enhances the preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge of the employees towards managing the change and achieving sustainable development. Reflecting on the undertaken processes can be related with the act of evaluation. This evaluation acts as an agent in terms of highlighting the drawbacks in the exposed performance. Consistency in the performance helps in upgrading the standards and quality of the performance. Attaching rationality in the execution of evaluation would make the personnel aware of the required changes. Strategic planning needs to be adopted in terms of achieving positive outcome in terms of the proposed changes. This planning would be the key towards penetrating into the foreign markets.

References

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