Introduction to Management: Imperial Hotel Staff Issues Report

This report examines the operational challenges faced by Imperial Hotel in London, focusing on the front of house staff. The report identifies key issues, including poor teamwork, inefficient use of IT systems, and miscommunication between departments, which have led to customer dissatisfaction and operational inefficiencies. The analysis delves into the root causes of these problems, such as outdated information systems and lack of staff training. To address these issues, the report proposes the application of Frederick Taylor's scientific management theory, suggesting strategies like breaking down tasks, delegating responsibilities, and monitoring performance. Additionally, it recommends specific solutions such as IT system training, cross-team building exercises, and the implementation of team bonus schemes to improve staff performance, communication, and overall hotel operations. The report concludes that effective teamwork and the adoption of management theories are essential for the hotel's success.

INTRODUCTION TO
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Problem 5: Front of house staff - Poor team working and inefficient use of IT systems.......3
What is the problem-..............................................................................................................4
Why Problem is Occurring-....................................................................................................4
Use of management theory for resolving problem.................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality is a vast fields which is consist of many departments. In order to have smooth
operations in an organisation, it is important for all the departments to work together up to their
full potential in order to achieve the goals of company. This report will discuss about various
issues that take place in operational divisions like front office, restaurant, etc. in Imperial Hotel,
London. The respective hotel is a 4 star property which have near by 25 hotels in UK. The
respective hotel in London have 450 staff in total out of which 350 staff members are working
full time and the rest of them are working on part time basis in various department of Imperial
Hotel.
Feedbacks plays a crucial role in creating a reputation of a hotel. Hence, Imperial hotel
conducted a survey which helped them reveal true experience of the customers with the hotels
which was not good (Anderson and et. al, 2018). The customers complaint about the bad
behaviour of the front office department. Additionally, many customers claimed that there were
no action taken by the front office department when they complaint about other services or ask
for any services. There is no professionalism in the employees of the respective hotel. Many
customers complaint about the irrelevant charges that the hotel charged during the check out
procedure. Additionally, there rooms were dirty and front office didn't connected them to room
service department. There was no action taken about their complaints which created a bad image
of the hotel in their mind.
Problem 5: Front of house staff - Poor team working and inefficient use of IT systems.
Imperial Hotel is a 4 star hotel in London, UK which is consist of many functional
divisions such as front office department, Reservations, Banquet and conference, Restaurant and
many others. One of the most important division is the Front office department which is also
known as the face of hotel as it the first division which interacts with the guest and provides
information and other services. Along with this, other departments like Kitchen, Restaurant,
Conferencing,etc. are also dependant to run smoothly. As per the given case study, the
respective hotel is facing issue among the front of house staff due to poor team work and less
usage of IT system (Combe, 2014). Other departments are complaining about the wrong
information and data been provided to them by front office department.

ANALYSING THE ISSUES
What is the problem-
The Housekeeping division claims that the information provided to them about room
availability and occupancy is not updated on time. Also, Front office department does not convey
any information to the Housekeeping department about the early check in and late arrivals as
they have to keep the room ready for the guests (Alvesson and Willmott, 2012). Due to this, the
customers have to wait till the rooms get ready which causes a bad customer experience.
Similarly, the Conference and Banqueting staff members states that the data that is been
provided to them about the number of guest coming to attend the meetings and the conferences is
not correct. It is also said that there are conflicts in the front office staff members. As the
department have three team which work on rotational shift due to 24 hour working of the
respective department. Hence, incoming teams are complaining that proper information are not
handover to them about the activities and follow-ups. This is creating a huge issue in sales of the
respective hotel.
Why Problem is Occurring-
As the sales have dropped to 65% from being to 80% due to the poor performance of
staff members. Additionally, one of the main reason of the respective hotel facing these many
issues is due to poor team working skills and lesser use of IT system. The company uses property
management system (PMS) and Micros Fedelio reservation system to perform activities like
reservations, check-in check out process, restaurant billing and many other transactions (Hislop,
Bosua and Helms, 2018). If the system is not managed and informations are not updated on time,
it can lead to miscommunication and slow down the whole working process of other departments
as well. Additionally, Du to not updating the data on these software, other departments are not
able to work properly such as Kitchen, Housekeeping, and other departments.
Use of management theory for resolving problem
Management Theory of Frederick Taylor, also known as scientific management theory
which helps focusing on increasing the economic efficiency and productivity of the employees.
Hence, the respective theory undertake the steps that are mentioned below:
Breaking Down Assignment into subtasks- This step of scientific management
undertakes breaking down the workload or assignment into small sections. Hence, rather than

allotting the work to a single individual, the work is divided among all the employees. Hence, the
front office manager of Imperial Hotel can allocate particular work to the employees which will
help in making the whole process more efficient.
Delegate responsibility and train workers- This step involves assigning the work task
to employees who are specialised or skilled enough for the particular job (Schaltegger, Burritt
and Petersen, 2017). The workers are trained by the management to enhance the skills of the
employees. Hence, the manager of Imperial Hotel should allot works like check in process,
cashier, guest query handling to different employees which will ease out the whole process of
check in to check out. Additionally, due to adequate training provided by the management, the
employees of the respective hotel feels confident enough to complete the task which results to
less errors and conflicts.
Monitor performance- The performance of the employees are monitored in order to
measure the productivity of the employees. Additionally, workers are re-trained in order to
enhance their skills and guide them recent changes and methods of conducting the process.
Hence, the employees of Imperial Hotel are monitored to ensure they are working productivity.
Along with this, various training are provided to them in order to update them about the latest
software, customer handling and market changes in order to polish their capabilities
(Management Theory of Frederick Taylor, 2018). The employees are also offered certain
financial reward for their quality performances.
Allocate work between managers and employees- The companies have various levels
or workers such as managers, executives, etc. Hence, it is important to allot work to the
managers and employees in an efficient manner which will help in proper distribution of work.
Regardless to say, the executives complete the roles and responsibilities that are assigned to
them. Hence, the front office executives and the front office manager are assigned certain duties
which needs to be completed by them only. Also, it is important to show respect to the
individuals who are working on the senior levels.
Few Suggestions given by Peter Farnsworth to resolve these problems:
 Training into IT systems- The employees should be provided certain training sessions
which can educated them about various software which are used by Imperial Hotels such
as property management system (PMS) and Micros Fedelio reservation system (Baaij,
2013). These software can help them in conducting smooth operations of check in and

check out process. Along with this, the reservations process of the respective hotl will
also ease out which will help the customers to have an efficient experience regarding
their reservation process. Along with this, these software will help the employees to stay
updated with the inward information of customers staying in the hotel. These software
can help in communicating the status of the guest about weather they are in the room or
not in order to be able to clean the room ( Hillier, 2012). Also, it will help in updating
the information to the other departments which can help in keeping an account of number
of guests visiting the conference, etc. Apart from these, the respective software can help
in keeping the track about customers history which includes information about the
customer's last visit, their room preferences, and other special requirements. These
informations can help in enhancing the experience of the customers with the hotel stay
and also help in profit earning of Imperial Hotel.
 Cross-team building exercises- It is the type of team activities which are conducted
among different team members. The team members are grouped either with other
members of the team or they are involved in various activities in order to promote team
work and communication building. Hence, Imperial hotel can conduct the following
activities to conduct Cross-team building exercise.
▪ Cross Training can be done in which the employees would be sent to different
departments in order to understand the working process of different departments.
Hence, the manager of Imperial hotel can practise cross training exercise which
will help in understanding the job roles of other department and help in enhancing
the versatility of the staff members. Also, it will help in initiating better
understanding among different team members and help in enhancing the
communication in different departments of the hotel.
▪ Writing down Expectations- This is one of the easiest team building exercise in
which the employees are asked to write down their expectations regarding their
concerns or from different departments. After collecting the data, points are jotted
down on the white board and later discussed among the team members (Young
and Ghoshal, 2016). Hence, Imperial Hotel can practise this strategy in order to
measure and rectify the issues that are faced by the team members of different
division. This helps the staff members of respective hotel in focusing on the issues

and the expectations of the team members from each other which can later be
taken into consideration.
 Review of team bonus schemes- Money is one of the biggest motivation for an
employee which motivates them to work more efficiently to their full potential. This
helps the company to achieve its objectives and helps in earning more revenue for the
respective hotel company. Hence, in order to achieve it, certain bonus scheme has been
announced in order to encourage staff members to improve productivity and excellent
standard of service. These are Employee of the month which would be applicable for the
whole hotel providing the financial incentive of £200 and employee of the month for each
department which would provide a financial benefit of £50 to the most efficient employee
of the respective department (Jeston, 2014). Along with this, there is another benefit for
the staff members who are consistently meeting individual and performance targets in
three consecutive months within the department. Hence, will be rewarded with £200
vouchers towards staying in any one of Star Hotels. Along with this, there would be party
at the end of every year which would be funded by the respective hotel. The respective
hotel company is also offering many other rewards such as college fees being paid (NVQ
levels 2-4).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that team work is very important for a
hotel in order to run its operations efficiently. Also, there are certain issues occurred in the hotel,
which can only be overcome through application of management theory. Also, it can be
concluded that these issues are happening because of
The issue of lack of updating information on the software can lead to several issues in all
the divisions of hotel. Hence, it is important for the staff members to practise adequate usage of
the software in order to make the work more professional and clear. Also, there should be proper
communication among the staff members of different divisions which will help in
communicating correct information about various process and informations. Additionally,
scientific management theory can be applied to help the employees polish their skills and
promote communication among each other. The work can be distributed among the staff
members which will help in enhancing the productivity of the employees. Along with this,
adequate trainings should be provided to the employees which will help in polishing their skills

and customer handling methods. Along with this, it is important to monitor the performance of
the employees in order to keep a track on their efficiency and productivity. However, various
other activities can be implemented which will help in enhancing the cross-team communication
and performance. Additionally, various financial benefits are provided to the employees which
helps in motivating the employees to work more efficiently.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, D.R., and et. al., 2018.An Introduction to Management Science: Quantitative
Approach. Cengage learning.
Combe, C., 2014.Introduction to management. Oxford University Press.
Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H., 2012.Making sense of management: A critical introduction.
Sage.
Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018.Knowledge management in organizations: A critical
introduction. Oxford University Press.
Schaltegger, S., Burritt, R. and Petersen, H., 2017.An introduction to corporate environmental
management: Striving for sustainability. Routledge.
Baaij, M., 2013.An introduction to management consultancy. Sage.
Hillier, F.S., 2012.Introduction to operations research. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Young, C. and Ghoshal, S., 2016.Organization theory and the multinational corporation.
Springer.
Jeston, J., 2014.Business process management. Routledge.
Online
Management Theory of Frederick Taylor, 2018. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.business.com/articles/management-theory-of-frederick-taylor/>.