Barnacle Bay Country House Hotel: A Case Study in Change Management

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CASE STUDY: BARNACLE BAY
COUNTRY HOUSE HOTEL
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
DISCUSSION ON COMPLICATIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF WHOLESALE CULTURAL CHANGE AT
BARNACLES.................................................................................................................................... 4
PLANNED APPROACHES TO CHANGES THAT BARNACLES CAN TAKE.............................................6
SUGGESTIONS ON LEADERSHIP STYLE AND BUSINESS STRATEGY TO DESIGN FUTURE
SUCCESSFUL CHANGE INITIATIVES...............................................................................................10
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS MENTIONED IN CASE SCENARIO..........................................12
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
The hospitality sector is often considered as filled with daily challenges and typical situations
that may need immediate attention and resolve. Most of these challenges are related to staff
and customer handling issues, as dealing with machines and people are two completely
different scenarios. This report is a case study of similar incidents in a prestigious hotel called
Barnacle Bay Country House Hotel, situated at Scottish coast in a rural setting, few miles away
from a colourful and prosperous market town. The hotel enlists great facilities with 100 en-suite
bedrooms, a large restaurant and an outdoor swimming pool. It has a prominent history and
had a great time hosting many important personalities and celebrities in its 50s and 60s.
Recently been awarded 4 stars, it has started many publicity ventures such as health spa,
leisure club, astonishing bridal suite and a hi-tech conference hall. It employs a staff of 77 with
55 of them are from immediate locality. Rita Clemet is current owner-manager of the hotel
which she has inherited from his family after the death of her father. Rita is a dedicated and
committed businesswoman and has worked all her life in the business field. Her understanding
with hotel management and issues has made her warned regarding the upcoming problems
and challenges if she doesn't take the necessary steps as soon as possible. This case study will
analyse all such issues that Rita might face as a manager and will try to address with proper
models of change management and necessary changes in leadership style by herself and her
newly appointed HR and training manager.
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DISCUSSION ON COMPLICATIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF WHOLESALE
CULTURAL CHANGE AT BARNACLES
The cultural changes are the most influential of all changes in a business environment because
these changes not only affect business functions and structures but they deeply influence
people's lives. The severity of such changes can be monitored in the hospitality sector, as the
interaction of multicultural people along with facing issues and challenges from their
perspective can create a general understanding which ultimately considered as much more
efficient than the conventional one (Aragon-Correa et al., 2015). Barnacles are about to
undergo a series of changes planned by its owner-manager Rita Clement, for which she has
managed to approve a decent amount of loan money. The physical changes she is planning to
make involve new carpet, furnishing, and new décor with the changed theme of interior look
along with an indoor pool and attached gymnasium. However, her real problem lies in the
inefficiency of hotel staff and her concerns regarding changes, and how they might react to
them.
The wholesale cultural changes that are referred here can be seen as the transformations in
cultural perspectives of staff and functions as a result of the introduction of some new trends,
regulations and mostly technological implications. In general terms, cultural change is deeply
affected by the advent of digital technology and its capability of interconnectivity (Steward,
2017). Barnacles have a glorious past and in that, many of its employees are working for a long
time, more than 5 years, and they understand the hotel's functions and complications better
than anyone. The problem, Rita might face is regarding the acceptance level of change and
reactions of these loyal employees, as they have their own way of handling typical situations
and customers. So the implementation of new transformational changes may appear as a
barrier in core progress of the management.
Some of such difficulties Rita might face in the advent of wholesale cultural change are pointed
below:
 As mentioned above, many of the hotel's employees have been working for over 5
years and they know and understand many of their regular customers and are seem
delighted to host them. The changes introduced in the light of technological and
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leadership style by Rita, the manager, may conflict with the conventional ways of these
loyal and long term employees and may affect their efficiency.
 These change will not be limited to hotel staff and function, as the hotel has many
prestigious and regular guests, they may also show reluctance to these changes.
 Wholesale cultural changes are often come with complications in customer handling
and communication between different functions which are quite crucial in driving
efficient servicing and expected customer experience. So there will be need of a regular
analysis model to find out these complications and resolve them effectively.
 Barnacles are getting a new HR manager and there will be changes in some of the
conventional regulations and governing structure. It may also involve improvements in
employee’s key performance values and measures which will directly affect employee’s
personal life and their working structure. In such event, it is obvious that some of the
employees show little reluctance or some may completely show their refusal of these
new obligations. This will be also a challenge that Rita will have to address very
delicately and with patients.
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PLANNED APPROACHES TO CHANGES THAT BARNACLES CAN TAKE
It is evidently known that change management in hospitality business could get quite complex
and there is a good possibility that the conventional and generally used change management
models may not work that efficiently. However, the hospitality sector does not involve complex
business processes and functions like other multi-sector corporate entities, it largely has to deal
with people (Kaufman, 2017). There are many different and specific to sector models for
change management available and for this case study a general idea or extracted approach
from all these theories and models has been utilized to address these upcoming changes.
Julian Steward, an American anthropologist, famous for introducing the world to the “Theory of
Cultural Ecology”, has many distinct views regarding how cultural changes influence people’s
lives and what approaches could be used to sustain such changes. According to him, the social
framework of change acceptance can be measured in terms of technological adaptation of
people to their natural environment. In simple terms, technological advancements are the
major forces which break people's conventional beliefs and notions regarding the impacts of
change on their life (Steward, 2017). On the basis of his study and research along with other
different change theories and models, here are a 5 steps action model which will help Rita to
generate a planned approach towards change implementations in Barnacles.
1. Conduct a quantitative evaluation of current cultural values at Barnacles: This first step
involves identification of where Barnacles current cultural values reside. The hotel has a
loyal clientele who come back to stay every year in summer, Christmas and other
memorable times of the year. Barnacles have been proud of the city for more than 70
years and have hosted plenty of great personalities and guests of royal stature from all
over the world. The reason behind the hotel's reputation was its traditional and royal
way of treating its clients and the great facilities it provides. In all that, there lies a
cultural value that comes from its employees and management, which in this step is
needed to be evaluated and listed (Köseoglu et al., 2018).
2. Establish harmony in culture, strategy and structure: This action step involves creating
a proper alignment in cultural aspects listed in the above step, the strategy for business
management, change management and growth and the structure of the hotel’s
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management. Avoid barriers and compromising implied by strategic decisions in cultural
values and heritage of the hotel, reconsider relationships of formal reporting, selection
and recruitment process, job descriptions, performance indicators and appraisal,
training and development and reward or compensation structures. Create an
entrepreneurial environment, by creating awareness regarding people’s role in the
growth of the hotel and its reputation (Kim et al., 2015). Respecting employee’s
personal boundaries and provide a caring environment in which they could hope for
their better future.
3. Ensure the participation of staff and clients: The changes which may create most of the
problem will be related to new technological implementations, ad such concerns can
only be dealt by ensuring everyone participation in those activities (Steward, 2017). The
manager will have to keep a balanced approach while dealing with such situations,
considering technical awareness of its staff and their compatibility alongside.
Participations can range from ideas offered by individual staff members, reaction to
those ideas and the tone of the idea, involving staff in structuring related activities,
asking their opinions, collecting feedback from clients regarding servicing and any
changes they expect to see in the future. These activities will not only create an active
environment but also help management in taking fast and refined decisions.
4. Keep communicating and demonstrating the change as many time as possible: This is a
critical step because while communicating with people regarding the proposed changes
it is necessary to maintain a positive and ambitious tone. So frequent communication
with the productive approach is needed in place with every top to the bottom person
involved in the entire operation (Kim et al., 2015). A mature leader doesn't rely on the
effectivity of the message delivered but keeps on repeating it with different contexts
and perceptions including personal benefits that may arise to individual team members.
Any change usually comes with both, positive and negative results and an effective
change management model ensure that negative effects are nullified and positive ones
are enhanced in a proportionate manner. This process requires a feedback loop in place
which involves all members of team and people who observe such changes from
outside. Leaders who are clearly and visibly response and dedicated to change have
been mentioned to be one of the sovereign success ingredients of culture change.
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5. Sustain and manage emotional response of your employees and clients: Effectiveness
of leadership can be found significantly related to aspects of emotional intelligence in
times of change. Employee emotions possess an ample influence on the way they
approach to change, because, in business sectors such as hospitality, these changes are
closely attached to their personal life (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). These situations
are needed to be tackled delicately by leadership and in that, along with analytic and
strategic elements of decision making, there must be a considerate amount of feelings
and emotions in the concoction. Attention towards employee's personal status and any
difficulties they might have suffered can provide a decent idea on how they might react
to change. This won't be enough if management and leadership are come undone in
managing their one emotional stability.
This generalized and extracted method has prepared after a critical analysis of different change
management theories and their suitability of hospitality sector. With the efficient
implementation of these 5 action steps, all the problems related to change implications and the
issues mentioned in the brief regarding improper conduct of staff will be addressed. The focus
has been kept on maintaining the reputation of the barnacle because as mentioned its charm
was found to be fading with time in light of inefficient management and proper HR regulations.
Figure 1: A simplified change management cycle
Source: [Lean change, 2018]
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In the figure above, a lean change management cycle has been shown which resemble with the
above-discussed steps. They can be, however, considered as a simplified form of those 5 steps
but the involvement of this cycle was necessary because it tells that the change management
discussed above is not a single phase process but a cycle which keeps repeating in every event
of change with the same capacity.
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SUGGESTIONS ON LEADERSHIP STYLE AND BUSINESS STRATEGY TO
DESIGN FUTURE SUCCESSFUL CHANGE INITIATIVES
Leadership is a most widely discussed topic in the business world and many scholars have come
with their own way or style of leadership based on their business structure. The best leadership
style cannot be adopted but it only can be developed because every business is different in its
functioning and structuring and it is not wise to implement a single set of style on every such
business (Wang et al., 2014). In the general business environment, there are three summarized
style of leadership are mentioned which are discussed here and best suitable to the situation
will be utilized by Rita.
Authoritarian leadership: This leadership concept has been generated from military and armed
forces methods of handling large battalions. In this style, all the decisions are taken by leaders
and there is no scope in left for further discussion or evaluation. All the functions and processes
are completely responsible for leaders and their decisions alone are able to initiate any
changes. It is considered a forceful method of change delivery and is quite useful in many
situations (Kara et al., 2013). A leadership, however, in a business environment should never be
completely authoritarian, because it neglects the scope of improvement and in sometimes
appear as a dictatorship.
Participative leadership: This leadership style empowers team members to use their own
analytical and logical approach to decision making by ensuring active participation of every
team member. The idea behind this style is to refine the decision-making process and create an
environment of mutual contribution and respect within the team.
Laissez-faire leadership: This is considered as passive style in leadership and involves complete
reliability on team member’s views and thinking. It is found quite negligible in practice and only
utilized when a project based activity or task is asking too much from the team members.
After the understanding with these basic leadership styles, and maintaining the focus on the
conditioned present in front of Rita, she would be much benefitted with a mixed approach of all
these above discussed styles. A hospitality business sometimes creates a complex environment
where a leader may have to choose its clients over its employees and vice-versa and such
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situations demand an authoritarian approach to make the right decision (Prebensen et al.,
2018). Also, there come many situations where some improvements in customer services and
infrastructure are there to be proposed, in such conditions it is wise to take suggestions of
every person of the staff and how that could benefit the hotel’s reputation and their personal
interests combined. These three leadership styles discussed above are, however, completely
based on the involvement of team members in leadership tasks and decision making.
The business strategy of the hospitality sector in prepared with keeping a keen focus on guests
requirements and comfortability. To create and maintain a competitive growth and reputation
oriented proposition, hotel businesses need to be focused and aware of the needs of their
guests. Perfect synchronization with different global standards and unexpected theme
features along with basic instruments of comfort is paramount in order to provide world class
services.
Here are some business strategies specific to Barnacles which will help Rita in addressing all the
current problems and challenges which she might face in the advent of changes
implementation:
PROVIDE CONTROL OF BRAND CULTURE TO HOTEL’S GUESTS
Meaning, instead of suggesting guests what they might experience in the hotel environment
and from the service provided to them, let them explore the possibilities and create their own
environment. This gives hotel management a chance to create an innovative culture and a
unique recognition among its clients. In sequence, provide space customization, theme
customization, use technology for interactive activities as much as possible, avoid extreme
decoration, depict flexibility from actions of staff etc.
EMPHASIS ON THEME CREATION AND VALUE EXPERIENCE
A theme creation refers to the environment which gives a sense of some royal or similarly
famous culture. Don't make a faded impression of guest's stay and ask for their opinions on
their expectations. For example, some of the guest's which are regular from many years, in light
of their loyalty, may demand special access to gym or pool and special food delivery or any
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unexpected customization, so don't deny such demands. Always try to be worthy of guests
expectations and that'll go long way than any other facility (Kara et al., 2013).
EMBRACE THE LOYALTY AND DEDICATION OF YOUR STAFF
This is an essential leadership requirement which can create much impact than any other
practice in order. Employees in a hotel business are the face and major elements of its
reputation, their dedication and regard towards the values and culture of the hotel are what
makes and guest’s experience memorable (Hoque, 2013).
TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEMS MENTIONED IN CASE SCENARIO
There is mention of some problems in case scenario such as too much idle time for employees,
intentional unawareness of staff towards cleanliness, reduced functional efficiency and
unexpected customer reviews. There can’t be a general solution to these problems but a series
of action-oriented approach could possibly reduce their impact on the hotel's reputation.
 First of all, full time on work engagement of employees is necessary and if there is no
active duty or guest service available to the staff to perform, a training program,
initiated by newly appointed HR should be there. It should be aimed to keep employees
engaged and at the same time achieve increased productivity and better approach to
customer handling from the staff's end.
 Cleanliness issues in hotel management are considered an intolerable aspect of service
defects. If there is any problem regarding staff availability for cleaning service and
technical issues, it must be immediately dealt with (Aragon-Correa et al., 2015). Rita can
hire dedicated staff for cleaning purposes at peak hours.
 Employees are found to be absent at high workload or peak time of the year, this leads
to long queues and waiting time for customers in bars and for room servicing. Rita
should consider replacing such staff and in case they have any personal issues for this
absence it must be dealt with accordingly.
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