Every industry operates in the business environment faces some issues and challenges in their operations and smooth functioning in the market. The case study mentions about The Imperial Hotel, London, a 500-bedroom hotel, a part of the well-known international branded chain of hotels, a 4-star market hotel, operating 25 hotels in the UK. The Imperial Hotel is located in the heart of the London’s West End, which mainly caters and fulfils the needs of tourists for the higher services. The hotel provides many facilities and meets the expectations of their customers and tourists and other business guests. Besides, the magnificent and the luxurious facilities of the hotel, Peter Farnsworth the general manager of the hotel analyses that there were certain operational, management, and business-related problems emerging in the hotel. In order to resolve these problems, the manager undertakes to devise a plan or strategy to resolve such conflicting situations, which may disturb the management of the hotel and affect the overall profitability. The plans include the identification of the top six problems in the hotel and amongst them; the problem highlighted in the context is ‘POOR GUEST SATISFACTION’ (Rentokil, 2018).
The poor guest satisfaction relates to the problems faced by the tourist’s guest in the hotel, which includes the check-in and checkout related problems. In addition, the other problems faced were the poor quality of the rooms, cleanliness issues, also the staff quality was also poor and their unhealthy behaviour towards their guests and customers. The critical challenges of the customer who arrive at the hotel had to wait in queues overcharged or incorrect maintenance of their billing system, and the technical issues was another major concern (Business management ideas, 2018).
According to the general manager, Peter Farnsworth there is some solution to resolve the problems identified in the hotel. Firstly, the problems in the hotel should be analysed properly from the perspective of their customers, then making their staff and employees aware of the customer expectations, and then training them to effectively implement changes in their working so as to ensure higher productivity and a positive feedback from them (Tech Target, 2018).
As per the grading or the benchmarking system of the hotel, the hotel ranked as the lowest in the star chain in terms of the customer satisfaction. Every hotel in the star chain consists of the company conducting a Guest Satisfaction Survey (GSS), which mainly deals with the review and feedback of the guests regarding the facilities provided by the hotel. They reported certain issues and problems, which led to the poor guest satisfaction. Poor guest satisfaction relates to the most regularly received complaints regarding checking in and checking out, quality of the rooms, technical and operational issues in the hotel. These problems if not handled on time may lead to the losses in the end and reduce productivity. The solutions to resolve such problems and bring efficiency in the operations of the hotel include putting management theory into practice, effectively implementing the leadership styles in the working of the organisation. The management theories implemented in the organisation to increase organisational efficiency and productivity for a better outcome and service quality (Cole and Kelly, 2011).
Management is both art and science, of getting work done by the people. The management theories apply to every organisation and their working is often influenced by using these theories and practices, depending on the nature of the organisation and their objectives. They help to interpret the rapid changing nature of the business organisations and their complexities around. These include contingency theory, system theory, and the team building theory. Situational or Contingency theory of the management explains that the organisation must take into account all the aspects of the current situation and must direct the activities and objectives accordingly (Boddy, 2014). Whereas, the Team building theory states that through emphasizing quality circles, best practices and by enforcing teamwork in the organisation a firm can improve consistently. The other aims of the establishment of the team theory flatten the management pyramid, and reduce the levels of hierarchy in the organisation thus resulting in ‘consensus management’. With respect to the hospitality industry, several management theories include ‘Green initiatives’, it is used by the leaders or the managers in the hospitality industry, with the aim to create positive guests experiences. Use of green products will reduce harm to their employees and guests. Green appliances use high-energy consumption and prove to be friendly for the use (Mindtools, 2018). Therefore, proper and effective implementation of the management theories would resolve the basic issues of the administration and management in the hotel. For example, team-building theory will help the general manager devise strategies for their staff and other employees to work with cooperation and coordination in the hotel. Through effective team management, they can achieve their targets for the coming year by combined efforts towards attaining guest satisfaction (Hierarchy structure, 2018).
As management consists of the various functions and activities, such as planning, staffing, and organising work in a manner through which a manager achieves objectives. It defines their way of working, decision-making processes in the organisation. Management styles differ from one organisation to another, person to person, therefore affected by different factors such as internal and external environmental conditions. These include Autocratic, consultative, chaotic, democratic, paternalistic, exploitative, or Laissez-faire leadership (Edwards, et al., 2015). Autocratic style of management defines the system of managing the organisation in such a way when the manager seeks to control the employees what they do, by often creating a fear of discipline (Cornerstone, 2018). In this style, employees know their roles and responsibilities and decision-making is streamlined. Whereas, the other forms such as democratic that positively relates to the freedom given to employees and their involvement in the decision-making in the organisation. The paternalistic approach describes the relation of the manager with their subordinates in the organisation as like between a father and his child (Clegg, Kornberger, and Pitsis, 2016).
According to my opinion, the management style pertinent to the hotel in the case study is the chaotic style, which means that the employees have all powers to take their decisions (The Economic Times, 2018). Here, organisations lack proper structures like other organisations, which often create chaos and the situation of a dilemma in the minds of employees regarding their job and responsibilities. In addition, the conditions and the problems arising in the hotel depicted the chaotic management style should be improved and there should be properly defined organisational systems and structures such as the democratic or participative style of management/leadership (Rhatigan, 2016).
Human resources are the most important asset in every organisation, should be managed effectively as they contribute to the organisational performance. Every organisation consists of people, acquiring their services through the development of their knowledge, skills, abilities so that they maintain their commitment towards the organisation for the longer period is essential for attaining the organisational goals and objectives. Therefore, HRM is primarily concerned with the implementation of effective HR practices and strategies through personnel planning by the HR department in the organisation, which include developing recruitment and selection procedures for the organisation. Some practices other than the hiring of employees include training and development, employee motivation, performance appraisal system, and compensation strategies (Human resource management, 2018). The management authorities or the HR department of The Imperial Hotel should build new strategies and effectively hire employees or staff, by analysing their requirements and the qualities they expect from them. Employees hired by using proper selection methods, which are capable enough to handle and work in the hospitality industry, or they should hire people with a certain experience in the hotel industry. In this way, they will be able to avoid wrong attitudes, or behaviour of their staff towards their guests ensuring maximum customer satisfaction (Business study notes, 2015).
TQM refers to the Total Quality management; defined as a management approach to achieve long-term success. Under, the TQM approach efforts of all the members are towards improving the processes, products and the culture of the organisation where they work. It is applicable in those organisations who are customer focused. These organisations include processes, improving communication network among individuals in the organisation through employee involvement. Therefore, this approach can be analysed and applied in the hotel, as the continuous involvement of employees in the hotel would help in identification of the problems such as high employee turnover, and absenteeism, which further disturbs the harmony in the organisation. Hence, according to my perspective the application of TQM approach can improve the quality of management in the hotel (Learn about quality, 2018).
The structure of the organisation sets the hierarchy of the responsibility and creates the various levels of the chain of command or communication among employees and their superiors. One of the factors of an organisational structure is ‘Managerial influence’, which is the result of the efficient structure. The managers have an influence on their employees if they have well-established structures by the means of defined roles and responsibilities and proper communication system. A strong organisational structure will lead to the growth and success of the company in the end. If a company has a weak internal organisation structure, then it will hinder the corporate growth in terms of sales, revenue, and profits. In addition, the organisation will lose the reputation and goodwill among the competitors in the industry (Bizfluent, 2017).
The problems depicted in the hotel represents the weak internal structure of the hotel, which resulted into ineffective leadership and management, that means improper use of resources (physical, technical and financial), also the main areas of the issue relates to the incompetent staff. As the staff did not meet the basic standard operating procedures, which led usually lead to higher operating costs. Therefore, the hotel managers should emphasize on the effective recruitment of the front office and back-house staff because they are responsible for managing their guest’s requests and complaints (Webstaurant store, 2018).
Employee Motivation is the biggest element in an organisation’s success and it describes the level of energy, commitment, and the creativity that the workers of a company bring to their job. In a broader sense, these are the psychological forces determining the direction of the behaviour of a person in the organisation to achieve specific goals. Accordingly, the administration or the HR manager in the hotel should increase the motivational factors of their staff members. One can be internally motivated due to his/her interest in the job, or the satisfaction received by him from doing the work. The other parameters for the motivation can be rewards, benefits, or the challenges; they are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors (Heathfield, 2018). Therefore, the HR department may focus on increasing their pay, incentives, and rewards, which will motivate their employees and other staff members to work with the goal-oriented behaviour, thereby enhancing productivity. As when employees are satisfied with the organisation, they are able to deliver their services in a more effective manner. Thus, employee efficiency is achieved by implementing the above management practices along with focusing on higher motivation resulting in customer satisfaction in the hotel (Ideas make a market, 2018).
Conclusion
To conclude the above analysis in the hotel industry in London, according to my understanding effective management of the hospitality industry mainly depends on the human resources, how they are acquired and retained in the organisation. The report depicted the inefficient management or administration in the hotel. Several operational, procedural and technical problems were identified in the hotel, and amongst them ‘Guest satisfaction’ was the major problem identified. In addition, a high staff turnover was noticed which was the 80% of the staff in the hotel which resulted in a high turnover. The inability of the staff members towards meeting the needs and expectations of their customers resulted in a lack of motivation among themselves; also, it created a negative work culture in the organisation. The work culture in the organisation affects the satisfaction level on both the ends, customers/ guests and the staff. The manager focused towards establishing and formulating management practices and the TQM approach in the organisation, which led to improved performance in the coming years. They included certain management and leadership styles, developing a potent and powerful organisational structure, which had a positive impact on the performance of the organisation.
References
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