Imperial Hotel: Team Dynamics and Improvement

This assignment analyzes the ineffective teamwork at Imperial Hotel, specifically focusing on conflicts within the front office department and with other staff members. It examines the reasons behind these issues, including poor leadership, blame culture, communication breakdowns, and inadequate IT training. The analysis evaluates Peter Farnsworth's proposed solutions, such as IT system training and team building activities, while also suggesting further improvements based on the STAR team leadership model, conflict resolution processes, and addressing employees contributing to a negative culture.

Case study on Imperial Hotel
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Analyzing the issue of ineffective team work in Imperial Hotel..................................................................3
References...................................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
The Imperial Hotel is a part of Star group that operates 25 hotels all over UK. The hotel is
located in the heart of London and caters to the requirenments of guests who wish to experience
high service standards. In the recent times, the hotel has been experiencing several issues in
various departments which has led to decreased guest satisfaction; high turnover of staff; poor
morale among others. This has caused a reduction in overall profitability and increased
budgetary pressure. Hence a new manager has been appointed in the hotel to take care of the
issues through his experience. One such issue was in the front of house staff, particularly in the
reception that faced problems of poor team working and inefficient usage of IT systems inclusive
of reservation and property management. The problem was with respect to inaccurate guest data
provided by reception staff to other departments being housekeeping as well as conference and
banqueting. Some guests also reported of rude behaviour when they talked with the reception to
fulfil their basic needs. Arguments existed within internal team members as well who
complained that previous shift did not provided proper handover information which made work
difficult for them. There further existed blame culture followed by non-constructive working of
staff as well as a presence of some strong personalities within department who clashed with each
other. The present study has thus made an attempt to focus on assessing the issue of team
working that was present within front staff of Imperial hotel before the joining of new Head of
Department of Front Office and Reception and Peter Farnsworth (General Manager). Focus will
be given on evaluating the concept of team working through use of theories given by authors.
Last but not the least there would be a discussion about giving comments on the
recommendations given by Mr Farnsworth for problems that have been listed in the case.
Analyzing the issue of ineffective team work in Imperial Hotel
Marks, Mathieu, and Zaccaro (2001) have defined team work as the independent act of
employees that convert input into output via a set of cognitive, verbal, and behavioral actions so
as to attain organizational goals. Team working is an essential part of any organization and its
success depends on how the team members create an environment where the people are ready to
contribute towards building of a positive work culture. But it is also true that creation of a
successful team is a very challenging task as the members have their own working style which
leads to personality clashes; miscommunication; conflicting situation that hinders overall
attainment of goal. Similar such situation happened within Imperial hotel as everyone had their
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own way of working which led to provision of wrong and inaccurate information. There was
further a creation of arguments between reception shift teams and incoming teams about not
providing proper handover information. The issue with ineffective use of IT systems especially
the reservation and property management systems added to further woes.
Krapfl and Kruja, (2015) is of the view point that the number one reason which leads to poor
team performance is the presence of ineffective leadership skills. This situation was also present
in Imperial hotel as the issues were present before the coming of new Head of Department of
Front Office and Reception. He had big doubts about how the teams were structured; the lack of
rewards and benefit for good performance as well as the need to train the employees on IT
systems. This all reflected the poor leadership skill that was followed by previous head hence he
wanted to develop a team based approach for managing the staff. There was further a presence of
blame culture within the department which has been described by authors as a situation in which
people are blamed for their mistakes and thus staff members’ fear of being blamed. This makes
them stop taking any risk or making suggestions (Pearn and Mulrooney, 2017). Similar such
situation was present in reception staff of Imperial hotel which clearly reflected the presence of
poor leadership in part of the previous departmental head. It seemed that he adhered with an
autocratic leadership and resorted to blaming the team members when things went wrong. He
thus refused to take responsibility of whatever happened which some where affected overall
team working within the department.
The case study further suggests towards the presence of dysfunctional team which has been
created into five levels Lencioni model given by Patrick Lencioni (Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions
of a Team, 2010). The very first level is of no trust between team members which was clearly
there in present case as no one was ready to admit mistakes due to presence of blame culture
within the organization and there was no comfort level between team members hence foundation
of trust was not possible. This led to issues with banqueting and housekeeping departments as
well in form of no proper sharing of information. Next level is the fear of conflict which was
clearly present in the team as small talks often resulted in blame game which increased conflicts
not only internally but with other departments as well (Ford, 2014). As leadership skills of the
previous department was not good hence there was also a creation of the next and last three
stages being lack of commitment from employees; Avoidance of Accountability as well as
Inattention to Results.
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On the basis of above case study, theories, models and views of different authors it is quite clear
that the front of house staff had a clear absence of team working on account of poor leadership
skills of previous department head which somewhere impacted the working of entire company.
The studies further suggest that team working is very essential for increasing overall efficacy and
productivity of hotel; reduce stress and pressure from team members due to distribution of work
load and establishing a culture where all the employees feel belonged and empowered within the
hotel. Hence the new manager as well as department head of Front Office and Reception should
work towards making team working a better one. They are further required to give focus on
resolving the issues that has crippled the work environment. Below is the list of strategies that
can be adhered by the management in this regard; there can be a use of STAR team leadership
model so as to improve team working within the front staff. This model clarifies as to what
should be done by the leaders in order to render a good performance (Tannenbaum and Cerasoli,
2013). In this regard, the management can apply strength based thinking and focus on the fact
that front staff in Imperial hotel can improve more quickly in areas if they are given work
responsibilities in which they are good at. Hence the ones good in IT systems should be trained
in that area while others good in consumer handling should be employed at front desk for
receiving the consumers and attending to phone calls. This will led to increased guest satisfaction
and also decrease conflict that took place in the departments.
The next step to be done by management as per the model is to focus on team working where a
sense of togetherness should be built in order to recognize what can be achieved more together
than separately. However this area required more focus by the new management as team working
was lacking entirely. Hence there can be a use of suggestions given by Mr. Peter Farnsworth
such as involving the staff members in cross-team building exercises as these will help in
increasing the overall cross-department cooperation and understanding. It will further aid in
increasing communication within the employees which is entirely on a wrong track in staff
member thereby leading to conflicting situations (Mann and Darby, 2014). The new manager
further suggested for team bonus schemes which is also a good technique so as to increase team
spirit within the employees. In this regard, bonus can be set for those teams who maintain up to
date information and data on guest arrivals and departures in the IT systems. They should also
add, specific guest needs and guest billing data which would then be monitored by head of
department (Mitchell, 2017). This will ensure that no error has been made in the entries and
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nothing has been missed so as to cause issues for next team shift. The best shift member can
further be promoted to shift leader position who would monitor the activities of his members and
collaborate with next team leader for the entries. Any discrepancy would be borne by the leader
himself hence he would be responsible in his work and also ensure that team members give their
best possible performance. Next step according to Star model is of aligning the elements being
strengths and team work with goals and vision of the organization so that work is done in an
effective manner. Last but not the least step is that team members must be cleared about the
results to be attained by them. This can be in form of improved consumer satisfaction; good
collaboration with other departments among others. Strict monitoring is then required to be done
so as to see whether the team is progressing towards the results in best manner or not (Kew and
Stredwick, 2017).
There is further a need to work on conflicts that are taking place within the team as well as with
other departments. In this regard, five-step process of conflict resolution can be used (Chile,
Fraccaroli, and Sverke 2017). Hence the needs to assess the cause of conflict in between the
reception team members and the ones happening with other departments. Are they because of the
clash of some strong personalities; improper team structuring or others. The need here is that
conflicting team members get a chance to share their story with the departmental head who will
then analyses the issue by looking beyond the incident. The need here is to analyses the source
which could be discrepancy in data a few months back which led to blame game in the members
and the teams started attacking each other. In short the need here is to analyses the factors. Then
is to request solution from the teams by making them understand the importance of cooperating
with each other. This can be in form of better team output leading to bonus and promotion
among others. This will help in arriving at mutual solutions that are acceptable to all the
members. The ones who are not in favor of any mutual agreements must be handled through
strict actions such as dismissal or demotion. This will further send a clear message to the team
members that conflict; lack of good team work is not at all welcomed in the hotel.
From the above report a conclusion can be drawn that front office staff of Imperial Hotel had an
ineffective team working not only within the department but also with other staff members as
well. These were majorly on account of poor leadership skills of previous head; blame culture;
lack of proper communication and ineffective training on IT systems meant for reservation and
Property Management. Hence, the suggestions given by new manager being peter Farnsworth are
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worth applying which are in form of training the employees in IT systems; usage of team
building activities as well as team bonuses. However there is further a need to apply several
other recommendations such as utilising STAR team leadership model which clarifies as to what
should be done by the leaders in order to render a good performance. This should be followed by
making use of conflict resolution process and removing those employees who are responsible for
bad culture within the department. The given strategies are most likely to bring reduction in
conflict, improve team work and create strong organizational culture where employees give a
good performance so as to give an exceptional consumer service.
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References
Chile, N., Fraccaroli, F. and Sverke, M., 2017. An Introduction to Work and Organizational
Psychology: An International Perspective. John Wiley & Sons.
Ford, J.K., 2014. Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. Psychology Press.
Kew, J. and Stredwick, J., 2016. Human resource management in a business context. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Krapfl, J.E. and Kruja, B., 2015. Leadership and culture. Journal of Organizational Behavior
Management. 35(1-2). pp.28-43.
Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions Of A Team. 2010. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.mtdtraining.com/blog/lencionis-five-dysfunctions-of-a-team.htm>
[Accessed on 31st March 2018].
Mann, A. and Darby, R., 2014. Should Managers Focus on Performance or Engagement?. Gallup
business journal.
Marks, M. A., Mathieu, J. E. and Zaccaro, S. J., 2001. A Temporally Based Framework
andTaxonomy of Team Processes. Academy of Management Review. 26(3). Pp. 356–376.
Mitchell, D., 2017. 50 Top Tools for Employee Engagement: A Complete Toolkit for Improving
Motivation and Productivity. Kogan Page Publishers.
Pearn, M. and Mulrooney, C., 2017. Ending the blame culture. Routledge.
Tannenbaum, S.I. and Cerasoli, C.P., 2013. Do team and individual debriefs enhance
performance? A meta-analysis. Human factors. 55(1). pp.231-245.
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