The Imperial Hotel Case Study: Applying Management Theories

The assignment analyzes a case study from The Imperial Hotel, where Peter Farnsworth is struggling to manage his team effectively. The report identifies the root causes of the problems as operational dysfunctionality and deviant behavior among employees. It then evaluates the impact of Farnsworth's laissez-faire management style on employee motivation and productivity. The assignment concludes that applying democratic and bureaucratic management styles can help improve staff engagement and retention, and recommends using management theories such as Scientific Management and Motivation Theory to address these issues.

INTRODUCTION TO
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROBLEM..........................................................................2
Cause of the problem..................................................................................................................2
Effects of the problem.................................................................................................................2
Management theories to fix the problem....................................................................................3
Summary and justification..........................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Problem 5: Back of house staff (Housekeeping, Kitchen, Maintenance) Poor operating and
control procedure in place with stock being regularly pilfered and evidence of staff not meeting
basic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) resulting in unusually high operating costs.
INTRODUCTION
Management is the achievement of organisational objectives in an efficient and effective
manner through planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling resources of the
business. The Imperial Hotel is one of the best hotel in the heart of London (The Imperial Hotel,
2019). However, there are some issues that has been experiencing by the new manager of the
hotel, these problems have potential to destroy the image as a four star hotels in London.
The new manager identify that, currently organisation facing problem with the staffing
the housekeeping department and in recruiting room attendance in past years. The staff of
housekeeping Guests are complaining about poor service. The problems can be due to improper
management within the industry. Currently the staff turnover in the industry is 60% a year. The
non-Spanish staff that are employed as in-house staff have low performance and they are not
meeting the basic of standard operating procedure of the industry in compare to the Spanish staff.
This study will discuss the fifth problem that the hotel is currently facing. Furthermore,
some management theories will discuss that will help Peter Farnsworth to overcome the issue.
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Illustration 1: Logo of The Imperial Hotel
(Source: The Imperial Hotel, 2019)

ANALYSIS OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROBLEM
Cause of the problem
The problem of operation dysfunctionality, high operating cost and poor consumer
service in the Imperial hotel are arising from the following points;
 Ineffective leadership and management is an indirect source of poor satisfaction and that
brings lack of monitoring and control procedure within the hotel (Anderson and et.al,
2015).
 Lack of motivation in full-time in-house staff is also the main reason behind the problem.
The staff is being in a position of laissez faire leadership by previous manager and they
still have the same attitude with the new manager.
 Lack of attachment with the organisation in terms of pay system, fulfilment of personal
needs and growth affect the mindset of the staff members.
 Lack of training, skills are the main reason of the issue (Geisler and Wickramasinghe,
2015).
 Negative working culture undermines the effort to create a team spirit that cause the
problem between Spanish staff and non-Spanish staff.
 The employees are unaware with the value of their position, job and company's value and
objective that is the reason in lack of homogeneity.
 Lack of dedication of the employees towards their job and work that can cause their ill-
interest that affects the operation and the company.
Effects of the problem
The problem has direct or indirect effect on the productivity and profitability of the
industry (Hayes, 2018). Operational dysfunctionality can affect the operating cost as the training
rate enhances for every new staff and they need specialised training. The imperial Hotel use
recruitment company that is responsible for providing the best fit employees as per the
requirements that affect the profit margin and overall profitability of the company. But after
using the recruitment company they are able to find potential staff for the back house that stays
more than 1 year in the organisation that is a positive effect (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018).
The specific problem also affects the quality of services that result in poor guest
satisfaction and indirectly generate dysfunctionality for front of house staff. Improper staffing
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and lack of team spirit can create the conflict in the industry. High level of turnover will force
the imperial hotel to suffer from poor performance and productivity among the workers
(Khorasani and Almasifard, 2017). The low level of morale subsequently affect the staying
interest of the employees in the Hotel and staff is not stay for more than 6 months. Furthermore,
the problem creates negative working culture amongst the staff. The effect of the problem is not
only on the organisation, it will also affect the guests and employees themselves.
This is not just about poor operation it is more than that. This is mainly regarding
negative working culture. The working culture is based on the setted culture by previous
manager and it is difficult for the new general manager to remove the restriction to adaption
towards the change (Mahadevan, 2015). The problems affect the organisation on the broader
scope. The affect of one problem creates and develop more problems in the hotel.
Management style
The best management style for Peter Farnsworth is democratic management style. Under
this style the manager invites staff to get involved in making decision. It involves extensive
communication from both managers and employees. For completion of the housekeeping task,
specialised skills are needed and in that situation manager should adopt this style (Petronio,
2017).
Management theories to fix the problem
Peter Farnsworth is the new manager in the hotel and he should use some effective
management theories and principles that will help in overcoming the issues that are created from
the previous management style. Following are the management theories that will be helpful in
such problems and for achieving maximum prosperity for employees and employers;
Scientific management theory
This theory focuses on improving the efficiency of each individual in the hotel and the
major emphasis is on enhancing the production with the use intensive technology (Shafritz, Ott
and Jang, 2015). The general manager should follow and adopt the principles in their style that
are given by the Taylor;
 According to the principle; manager should give financial incentives to the members of
housekeeping department to boost their productivity and that motivates them to perform
well .
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 For effectively achieving the objective it is essential for the manager to provide
scientifically hire the right candidate that fit in the job role and furthermore give them
training to develop their skills rather than leave them on their own responsibility to train
themselves (Suddaby, 2015).
 Manager should determine and select the best way to do the job and train the staff
accordingly. It is necessary to do the job properly with ease.
 The approach will help the manager to improve the working condition of within the
specific department (The Principles of Scientific Management, 2019).
Motivational theory
Motivational theory is the best approach for resolving the issue of demotivated
housekeeping staff in the hotel. It is categorised in two parts; content theories and process
theories (Anderson and et.al, 2015). Content theory helps manager to understand what motivates
an individual in the hotel from that they encourage to perform well. Following are the theories of
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Illustration 2: Principles of scientific management theory
(Source: The Principles of Scientific Management, 2019)

motivation can be used by the manager to motivate employees. Process theory deals with the
process of motivation.
Equity theory- Under this theory, manager need to develop a fair working environment
in the organisation that motivates the staff. Peter should reward the employees on their good
performance and maintenance in the organisation that push them to perform their role well.
Reward can be tangible or intangible, both have their own role and result in the organisation.
Under this theory manager should enable a good relation with the staff to improve morale and
productivity (The Theories of Motivation, 2019).
Vroom's expectancy theory- This theory involves 3 major elements; expectancy,
instrumentality and valence. It is mentioned in the theory that manager should identify how
productivity of the employees can be increased.
 Under the expectancy employees expect from their own efforts related to good
performance (Geisler and Wickramasinghe, 2015). The factors can be facilitates by the
training, support form the supervisors that help the manager in build the confidence.
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Illustration 3: Types of Motivation Theory
(Source: The Theories of Motivation, 2019)

Manager should have right resources at their disposal and they are responsible to identify
the necessary skills in the staff and provide them right level of support.
 In instrumentality, manager can actually add bonuses or promotion to the result on the
performance of the staff. The employee believes that if they perform well, in result
appreciation will be shown.
 The final result that is achieved by the staff is valued by each employee. Manager should
provide the value by fulfilling the basic need. In the team some employees value money
on the other hand some employees value more days off (Hayes, 2018). The role of
manager is to identify the value of individual and provide them the praise accordingly.
Summary and justification
For improving the staff retention it has been seen that Taylor's five principle are
beneficial. Manager can use scientific method to determine the best way to do tasks or day to day
operations. Along with it, the theory enable manager to select the best person that is physically
and mentally fit in the required criteria for the job role (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018). Proper
training and development programs will help in to bring improvement in existing skill and
knowledge of an individual. It has been evaluated that providing financial incentives attract
consumers and help in to fulfilling the need of employees.
By observing and identifying the work performance of the staff, manager are able to give
punishment or reward accordingly. This approach help managers to create an environment of
cooperation that ensures that all the staff members, whether they are Spanish or non-Spanish
staff work together as a team (Khorasani and Almasifard, 2017). It is proven effective for
employee and employer in the hotel and create better working condition that satisfy all the
members. The main reason of the lack of dedication by the staff in their work is because of low
motivation and lack of encouragement and attachment that can be resolved by the motivational
theory. Motivated employees lead to increased productivity and allow hotel to reach towards its
goal and lower unit cost of production.
Along with the manager, executive housekeeper must control and maintain the following
function such as; bed making, room cleaning, pest control, interior decoration and laundry
services (Mahadevan, 2015). Coordination is necessary in to avoid operational dysfunctionality
with all the back house areas. The theories will overall help the organisation in enhancing the
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productivity, drive sales, enhance staff morale and operational efficiency and that result in
improvement in quality of service.
Management of the Imperial Hotel at the operational level
The Imperial Hotel is running at 65% rate in the grading system of benchmark of the
company. It is considered that Peter Farnsworth should be on the top of the management in the
organisation chart of the hotel so he can direct control all the department effectively (Shafritz,
Ott and Jang, 2015).
General manager
Food and
Beverage director
Sales and
Marketing
Director
Rooms
department
manager
Accounting Personnel
The manager should exercise the power of authority by controlling all the units directly
so the gap can be improve between expectation and result. HR also plays an important role in
resolving the issue. Regarding human Resource, Peter Farnsworth should target a new ethical
leadership management (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the present study it has been concluded that the root of the problem developed from
operational dysfunctionality. It also has been evaluated that deviant behaviour of employee are
the most responsible to reach the goal of the hotel. Morale of the employees can be affected by
management style. Previous manager implement laissez faire style in his management that
lowers down the productivity and motivation of the employee now it has been seen that Peter
Farnsworth should use democratic and bureaucratic style of management that is beneficial as
staff need motivation from the organisation, the previous style make them demotivated.
Applying the management theories will help manager of the hotel in reducing inability of
staff and enhance the engagement between employees and employers that is much needed for
staff retention.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, D. R and et.al, 2015. An introduction to management science: quantitative
approaches to decision making. Cengage learning.
Geisler, E. and Wickramasinghe, N., 2015. Principles of Knowledge Management: Theory,
Practice, and Cases: Theory, Practice, and Cases. Routledge.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.
Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical
introduction. Oxford University Press.
Khorasani, S. T. and Almasifard, M., 2017. Evolution of management theory within 20 century:
A systemic overview of paradigm shifts in management. International Review of
Management and Marketing. 7(3).pp.134-137.
Mahadevan, B., 2015. Operations management: Theory and practice. Pearson Education India.
Petronio, S., 2017. Communication privacy management theory: Understanding families.
In Engaging theories in family communication (pp. 107-117). Routledge.
Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S. and Jang, Y. S., 2015. Classics of organization theory. Cengage
Learning.
Suddaby, R., 2015. Can institutional theory be critical?. Journal of Management Inquiry. 24(1).
pp.93-95.
Online
The Imperial Hotel. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/en/imperial>.
The Principles of Scientific Management. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/taylor/principles/
index.htm>.
The Theories of Motivation. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:<https://www.future-
processing.pl/blog/5-theories-of-motivation-a-leader-should-know/>.
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