Improving Stewarding Activities in Starwood Hotels

This article discusses the problems faced by Starwood Hotels in their stewarding activities and suggests solutions to improve communication and management. It also explores the implementation of the Power of Innovation program and its impact on productivity and organizational development.

Running head: BUSINESS PROCESS
BUSINESS PROCESSESS

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Answer 1
The POI or the power of Innovation Program is a very new approach that was started by
the Starwood Hotel in order to deal with the problem. Stewarding was becoming a huge problem
for the hotel as they had a very large area of operation. On the other hand the stewards were not
appointed in sufficient numbers for meeting with the daily requirements. Apart from this, the
hotel has to make sure that they are appointing proper number of stewards and also training them
properly so that they can deliver all kinds of works without making any such mistakes. It is
evident from the case study that the Starwood hotels need to make a kind of improvement in
their stewarding activities. One of the major problems that they face is the proper connection or
the communication between the staffs.
On the other hand the inflow of the local clients or the leisure travelers in the hotel is not
stable. As a result of this the stewards do not get a proper flow of work. There is uncertainty in
the amount of work that is designated to the Stewards. Apart from this the stewards often had to
wait for a long time as the dishes and the other utensils did not reach them on time. Some of the
stewards need special training skills as some of the restaurants have to appoint stewards who are
specially skill to hand were the utensils rather than using an automated dish washer.
Thus, the first thing that the hotel must be introducing is to develop both kinds of
stewards like the dynamic coverage and the forecasted coverage systems. They must be
appointing both the dynamic and the static stewards. This will be helpful as these stewards will
be ready for performing any kind of tasks and under any circumstances. The dynamic stewards
as the very name suggests will be able to perform those tasks that arise on demand and the static
demands will be looked after by the static stewards. The static stewards will be available for

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doing the tasks that may arise on a day to day basis. The dynamic stewards will be specially and
particularly trained as that they can fulfill the requirements that might arise all of a sudden. As
the hotel had the issue of irregular inflow of work, the newly appointed stewards will be
reporting to their dynamic work assignment and would also be available for doing any kinds of
work as per the demand. If the hotel daces any uncertainty in the inflow of the work then the
stewards will be waiting for some time.
However the time will be for a set period. This limit will be mainly for that much time
period as is needed for getting these stewards accumulated in the location of the static work.
Thus, this system will take sure that the dynamic stewards ate not sitting idle or are running out
of the task. In this spare time period the dynamic stewards will be able to complete any kinds of
wok that is not subjected to any such time sensitive issues. These works are the ones that are not
time sensitive in nature but at the same time, these works are important and needs to be done.
The static stewards on the other hand will be able to carry on with their work that are
static in nature, There are several other works that needed to be done in the hotels irrespective of
the inflow of the tourists. These static stewards will be doing the work that will be having a static
and a predictable inflow nature. If there are some kinds of barriers in the inflow of the static
tasks then the static stewards will be having the local rounds or some local works. These local
rounds will only be taking some minutes or a less amount of time to be completed. Thus, this
system will be helping the hotel management to know is the probable time at which there will be
some shortages in the inflow of the static tasks. As and when the barrier arises the Starwood
Hotels will be making the static stewards to of or some local rounds or some local works.

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Reporting to the static assignment
Completing the tasks as per the demand a
Make the rounds
Static steward ends shift
Reporting to the dynamic assignment
Completing tasks until a break
Reporting to the static assignments for some minutes
Ending the shift of the Dynamic s
Commencement of the shift of the dynamic steward
The static stewards will commence their shift


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Answer 2
The root cause analysis is mainly defined as the systematic process of finding the root
causes or the basic reasons that lies at the grass root level of any issue. In the given case study, it
has been seen that there are some problems in the management and the communication system of
the Starwood hotels. In other words, the hotel authorities have not been able to appoint the exact
number of stewards or the actual amount of work that is present in the hotel industry. Though
they have been able to find out that there are some problems in their management process they
have not been able to solve them properly. There are some basic questions that needs to be
answered while finding out the root cause analysis
 What happened
 How it happened
 Why it happened…so that
 Actions for preventing reoccurrence are developed
What happens?
The Starwood Hotels realized that there are some problems in the steward duties. In other words,
the stewards or the house keeping staffs have complained that they face many problems during
their shift hours. There are some kinds of works that arises in the hotels only during some special

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seasons where as there are other k9nds of works that are to be done on a day to day basis.
However the allocation of the stewards was not uniformly done
 How it happened
It mainly happened when the stewards had to sit idle and they did not get any work. Due to the
lack of proper communication and management of the Hotel authorities, it has been seen that the
inflow of the visitors is less and is unpredictable. It is for this reason that the stewards often do
not find sufficient amount of work all round the year.
 Why it happened…so that
It happened because the stewards neither had proper training nor was the hotel authority good
enough in managing the work. They did not make any attempts to provide special training to
their staffs. The stewards often reached the destination where the work as out of their expertise.
As for example there were some restaurants who did not want their utensils to be washed by
using any automated dishwashers. They want their stewards to use the traditional hand washing
methods.
 Actions for preventing reoccurrence are developed
The hotel has taken the POI system so that it can help them for overcoming the errors that were
present in the organizational setup. This will help them to appoint the stewards as per the
requirement. They will also train the stewards in a proper way so that there are no further
problems existing.
Answer3

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The Starwood Hotels realized that they have to bring some changes in order to deal with
their overall operations. It is for this reason that they have undertaken the power of innovation
program or the POI system. They have undertaken this system so that they are able to bring an
overall change in the management and the operation system. As a result of this they developed
this POI system that has helped them to allocate the work among the employees in a proper way.
This system has been very helpful for the overall growth and development of the organization.
This system has helped them to achieve an all round development in the whole of North
America. This is mainly because of the fact that after applying this method they have been
following the system of constant improvement. They are trying their level best to improve in all
the aspects. They are trying to capture the largest and the best share in the whole of the North
American hotels. They have tried their level best in order to work over the improvement of the
housekeeping team. They have also been successful in utilizing the existing knowledge and using
it for the betterment of the future.
The implementation of the process has been very helpful for increasing the productivity.
This has helped in achieving a good rate of production in the Westin Galleria Oaks in Houston,
Texas. This method has helped them to achieve about 6 percent increase in the total production
level. This is also evident of the fact that the implementation of the POI has helped in the TQM
or the total quality management in the organization. There also has been improvement in the
management of the kitchen operations. The kitchen production work and the production jobs
have been successful in attaining a very good height. This also clearly shows that this POI
implementation has also helped the organizational development.
The management and the control system of the organization have increased a lot. There
also has been a good usage of then labor and the time available. In other words the total amount

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of time needed for the staffs to manage the dynamic and the static works of the organization have
been carried on properly. There has also been business process re engineering after the proper
implementation of this process. In other words, the time management has also been restructured
and it has been able to bring about some positive impacts on the overall organizational set up.
There has been a reduction of about 2404 hours used and there has also been a good amount of
saving in the Annual payroll. It has been seen that $23320 has been saved in the annual payroll
savings alone. Thus, it can be said that after the implementation of the POI, the hotel authorities
have been able to understand that they must be appointing both the dynamic and the static
stewards. This will help them to realize that the work load will be distributed among the two
differently specialized groups of stewards. This will help them to do their housekeeping job in a
proper manner.
The Hotel will be able to train their stewards in a proper manner and make sure that they
are being able to render all the different kinds of work as and when the need will arise. The
dynamic stewards will be able to carry on all the tasks that will be arising on any special
occasions or a seasonal basis. The static stewards on the other hand will be there to support the
regular day to day operations of the Hotel. Thus, It can be said that there has been a total
restructuring or re engineering of the organization. As the hotel had the issue of irregular inflow
of work, the newly appointed stewards will be reporting to their dynamic work assignment and
would also be available for doing any kinds of work as per the demand. If the hotel daces any
uncertainty in the inflow of the work then the stewards will be waiting for some time. However
the time will be for a set period. This limit will be mainly for that much time period as is needed
for getting these stewards accumulated in the location of the static work.
Answer4

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Benchmarking is one of the most important processes that must be following in each and
every organization. This will help in making sure that the organizational development is taking
place properly. The benchmarks are like the alerts or the goals that keep on reminding the
company to work hard. Some of the benchmarks that are usually followed by the organizations
are respect for the customers, taking the customer feedbacks, training for the employees and
other such criteria’s. As far as the case study is concerned it deals with the changes that then
Starwood hotels are about to introduce in their organizational set up. Thus, the Starwood hotels
must make sure that they are
Strategy over expenditure
The main motto behind setting these benchmarks is that the money or the total capital
fund must be spent in a very strategic manner. The hotel has to know that even if they are
spending a huge amount of money it is not necessary that the money spent will be bringing a
good and positive desired outcome. The main purpose of the hotel must be to make a proper
budget plan before they are about to spend. The money must be used in a much planned, skillful
and a strategic manner. The must use the resources in a proper way like arranging for special
skill development and training sessions for their stewards. The stewards must be able to develop
both the dynamic and the static skills.
Readdressing and re engineering business models
The Starwood Hotels must always make an attempt for bringing about changes in their
organizational set up. In other words, they have to make sure that they are keeping an open mind
for accepting and adopting the modern technological and other strategic advancements. For an
instance they must be using the TQM or the total quality management tools in order to make sure

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that they are using the best available technologies. They have started using the POI method for
bringing about the needed changes within their system. In order to make sure that they are being
able to reap the maximum benefits they have to make sure that they are constantly restricting
their existing system. They have to carry on the process of constructing and reconstructing in
order to get rid of their old systems and finding out some of the most useful and modern kind of
methods.
Breaking down the silos
Starwood Hotels must make sure that they are breaking out both the internal and also the
external silos. This will help them to use many such strategies that they never used previously. In
other words they must consider involving the customers and the employees in their decision
making process. They must take the feedbacks from the employees or the housekeeper
(stewards) in order to know the different issues that are being faced by them. Apart from this,
they must also use methods like surveys in order to get the feedback from the customers in order
to know if they are satisfied with the service or what are the issues that they have faced. These
will help Starwood Hotels to use the correct R&D model in order to bring about changes within
their system.
Special skill and training system
They Hotel authority must always make sure that they are doing an in-depth research
regarding the best kinds of technology that are existing in the market. In other words, they have
to use these for the development of their employees. As for example the Starwood Hotels have
decided to train the stewards in both the dynamic and the static skill. Apart from this, the system
making use of the lean season by making the stewards do some local rounds of work is also one

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of the best ideas that have been developed by the Hotel. Thus, the hotel must keep referring to
and also abiding by these benchmarks while working.
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Appendices

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