The Imperial Hotel
The Imperial Hotel is a four-star hotel located at the east end of Russell Square, which is part of a group of twenty-five hotels owned and operated by the 4 star market in the United Kingdom. The chief guests at the hotel consist of tourists and business people from around the globe. The customers mentioned above have high standards and expectations; therefore, the hotel has to provide the best services as opposed to the other hotels in London. The facilities at the imperial hotel include 500 bedrooms, conference facilities to hold one thousand people, and leisure center with swimming pool. Other facilities include twelve conference rooms, four restaurants, and three bars. The hotel has a total of four hundred and fifty staff with three hundred working full time and the rest working on part-time arrangements. The workers are headed by six heads of departments under the departments of; human resource and training, housekeeping, food and beverages, guest services and concierge among others. In some instances, the hotel makes use of outside contractors to help in laundry services and specialist cleaning. In recent years, the imperial London hotel has been having some problems resulting in low profitability due to loss of ardent customers.
Change of guard at the imperial London hotel
The imperial hotel has been facing several challenges in recent years threatening to bury the once international brand, which has been in operation for about a hundred years. Due to the dwindling fortunes at the hotel, the owners recently hired a new manager Peter Farnsworth. In this recent change, it has been speculated that the company has selected a general manager with vast management experiences having been at the helm of some of the very best star city center hotels. However, the hotel is in dire need of a new pool of workers who are professionals and motivated to turn around its fortunes. Under the previous general manager, the Imperial Hotel faced several challenges that resulted in lost revenues leading to low profits. The problems engulfed the hotel to such an extent that it was graded at a lowly 65%, ranking the lowest in the star chain specifically in overall guest satisfaction. Of great concern to the new general manager, the hotel was last fully refurbished about eight years ago and is in need of redecoration and restoration. Currently, there is a plan in place for staged refurbishment, meaning each floor is closed for repair at some point. Consequently, for the next two years, sixty rooms of the hotel will not be in use at one time. Therefore, the hotel will have reduced income.
Major problems facing the Imperial London Hotel
Since taking over as the new general manager, Farnsworth has researched on operational, management and business-related challenges that Imperial hotel faces. According to him, business cannot be as usual at the hotel if they are to awake a sleeping giant and everyone involved must up their game. The new manager, therefore, has designed a strategy to resolve the longstanding deficiencies at the hotel, which almost brought it to its knees, whether they are management issues, operational shortcomings, or business related challenges. Peter has identified six major problems he says the hotel must address to remain in business that is profitable. According to him, the six issues are as follows. First is poor guest satisfaction with their complaints not taken seriously as it should be. Secondly, the hotel has high staff turnover with roughly 80% of the workers leaving the hotel within the year. Thirdly, there was a negative work culture amongst the workers with so many sick leave requests and poor attendance during work days. The fourth problem is ineffective leadership and management by previous heads of department and supervisory staff including poor monitoring and control procedures. The fifth problem, according to Peter, is poor team working and inefficient use of IT systems by the front office staff (the reception, conference & banqueting, and restaurant and bars). Finally, the manager identifies the last problem as poor operating and control procedures by the back of house staff (housekeeping, kitchen, and maintenance).
Problem 4: Ineffective Leadership and Management By Previous Heads Of Department And Supervisory Staff Including Poor Monitoring And Control
As mentioned earlier, the new management pointed out significant challenges it braces for the coming year. However, the paper will focus on the fourth challenge that Farnsworth noted; that is, the problem with previous management was that it emphasized on just two management theories; the scientific theory and the bureaucratic theory. From the claim, it was clear that the hotel performed poorly owing to the leadership of the general manager who failed to offer direction. The work of a general manager in a hotel set up is to streamline the departmental goals to that of the entire hotel (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014, p. 17). He/she is supposed to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction, that is, towards the hotel’s stated goals. Nonetheless, the retired manager failed to apply the human relations theory to motivate his employees. He was unable to provide an environment of self-actualization for the employees to perform their best for the organization.
Besides, according to Baldoni (2008), by over applying the bureaucratic management approach, the manager made the heads of departments (HODs) to be bosses with everyone else worthless in the organization. The HODs defended bad decisions during meetings for them to get their dues. The result was that the employees did not feel a part of the hotel and, therefore, lost interest in what was best for the hotel. Most workers left with over eighty percent choosing to pursue careers in rival hotels. The high rate of staff turnover at imperial was a set back because instead of concentrating on offering services, the hotel with the recruitment of new employees midyear compromising on the quality of services provided. Lack of a proper working environment also resulted in high number of employees seeking sick leaves at the hotel. Overall, there was poor attendance by workers.
The retired general manager and his HODs were at fault for not putting in place the systems approach in management. During the last few years, the hotel’s employees did not utilize the systems provided to them such as the IT systems for running the hotel. They failed to make the most of the technology to enhance efficiency. The front house staff inefficiency in using IT for daily operations such as booking guests’ hotel rooms or even reservation caused confusion and complaints from the customer.
In totality, the management failed to take responsibility in the running of the hotel from the general manager to various heads of departments. The result was that the hotel underwent turbulent times (O'Fallon and Rutherford 2011, p. 34) Unscrupulous workers took advantage of the irresponsibility by the management to steal from the hotel especially the back house staff. A good business is one in which every employee, irrespective of their positions, work towards the Company’s goal. However, under the previous management of Imperial, it was hard even to know the hotel’s objectives. Every person was working towards their own goals with standards of services meager. The former managers failed to instill team working spirit in their staff. There was a total collapse in communication between various departments of the hotel. Normally, different departments in an organization are supposed to be in constant communication with each other for the business to run smoothly (Kaufman 2012, p. 24).
Of great concern, however, was the treatment of the clients’ issues. Whenever the guests raised complaints about the services they received, the heads of departments dismissed them hurriedly. Any business that does not listen to the compliments and complaints from its customers is bound to fail. It is from such critics that managers learn how best they can serve their customers. The general manager did a disservice to the hotel when he retained the services of non-performing HODs and supervisors, some for more than ten years.
Solution Put Forward By the New Management to Address Problem 4
The new general manager of Imperial Hotel has resolved that he has to tackle the problem. With his level of experience after several years managing hotels in the caliber of imperial, the new leader is better placed to steady the hotel. Personally, replacing an underperforming manager should be more comfortable than replacing one who has raised the bar. Farnsworth realizes that despite the deplorable situation at the hotel, he has the opportunity to implement the best business practices to make Imperial Hotel great again. During his short stint, he has already seen how his foot soldiers are sometimes a letdown to him. He also has the opportunity to replace the unprofessional HODs who resigned after the retirement of the previous general manager. Farnsworth’s suggestions to solve the problem include;
Leading By Example
The primary reason why the hotel suffered under the previous general manager was that he failed to show people what he required of them. In any organization, the buck stops with the top manager. Farnsworth realizes that and concludes that he cannot demand his workers to take duties that he cannot (Wankel, 2011). If he wants them to be team players, he realizes that he has to be at the forefront. The entrepreneur also has to encourage cooperation between the different departments. In business, employees need to feel involved and part of the organization for them to deliver their best willingly (Maylett and Wride 2017, p.14). Farnsworth intends to engage the workers in some decision making processes. The new leader is mindful of the fact that he has to supervise what is going on at work. Besides, he insists that all customers’ complaints and compliments must be reported to him for it is their customers' satisfaction that is their number one goal.
Reviewing and Monitoring Procedures and IT Support
The application of technology in any business is a plus as it guarantees efficiency (Gelinas and Fedorowicz 2004). However, its ineffective application can be a hindrance to overall profitability. Farnsworth noted that the hotel's front house staff was not effectively using the IT support provided to them to serve their customers efficiently. He intends to retrain the employees on how to properly integrate IT as it could have been a problem of lack of knowledge (Andersson et al. 2005, p. 652). Farnsworth also emphasizes to the HODs the importance of regularly training their staffers to improve their understanding. Another issue during the past few years was that the HODs and supervisors failed to do their jobs leading to loss of hotel property. Even so, the manager has reviewed the monitoring procedures to seal the loopholes used to steal. He has hired thorough HODs and supervisors to protect the hotel’s interest actively.
Incentivizing Supportive Management
Mr. Farnsworth is aware that to succeed, he needs the support of every employee. Therefore, he has resolved to encourage support from all by rewarding good deeds. Those who go out of their way to help the hotel grow in areas not under their contracts should be encouraged through promotion and other means (Rohleder, 2010). The current manager of Imperial Hotel insists to the employees that it is not the management whose actions matter but everyone involved. He has, therefore, opened the door for workers to express talents freely to help grow themselves and the business.
Devising Cross-Department Collaboration
Any business requires to have its objectives; departmental and overall set for the year. Peter Farnsworth has set the overall targets for the hotel. An organization needs its corporate goals to adhere strictly to the overall objective. However, it is not just enough to have department objectives in line with the organizational purpose (Gond et al. 2011, p. 121). Farnsworth knows that one of the reasons the hotel suffered before is because the various departments were not communicating properly with each other. He, therefore, emphasizes that only team players will survive his reign.
Conclusion
In any business model, the manager has to incorporate the different management styles to succeed. Over relying on a single method can bring the whole thing crumbling down. It is also essential to engage the workers in decision making because the business will only work if the workers feel a part of it. The top manager must lead from the front on what the company should look like as they say the buck stops with him/her.
References
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Kaufman, B.E., 2012. Strategic human resource management research in the United States: A failing grade after 30 years?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(2), pp.12-36.
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