Imperial Hotel: Front Office Challenges in Teamwork and IT Systems

This report examines the challenges of teamwork and inefficient IT systems within the front office of the Imperial Hotel, a star chain hotel. The analysis identifies issues within the reception, conference & banqueting, and restaurant & bars departments, focusing on poor coordination, conflicts among staff, and inadequate IT system utilization. The report proposes solutions by applying management theories, including Mayo's Human Relations Theory and Theory X and Y, and management principles like division of work, unity of command, and authority and responsibility. The Tuckman and Jensen model of team development is used to understand and resolve team dynamics issues. The report emphasizes the importance of addressing these problems to improve guest satisfaction, reduce employee turnover, and enhance operational efficiency. The conclusion highlights the need for training, incentives, and effective leadership to foster a positive work environment and achieve organizational goals.

Introduction to
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the problem...................................................................................................................3
Identification of problem.............................................................................................................3
Resolving issues..........................................................................................................................4
Tuckman and Jensen model of team development.....................................................................4
Problem from management and operations perspective.............................................................5
Management theories..................................................................................................................6
Principles of Management...........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Management in business refers to the monitoring, and controlling the activities of people,
functions and operations of an organisation. Management is very necessary for the business firms
in order to execute their business operations with the required efficiency and performance for
accomplishing the desired organisational goals and objectives in an effective manner. Also due
to the improper management, business firms can face loss in revenue and many problems can
arise which can further impact the operations and employees of firm. Due to this problem, the
performance and productivity of the firm can decrease along with the employees. The firms
needs to develop effective strategies for facing such issues effectively so that these will not
impact the business operations and performance. Imperial Hotel is the chosen organisation in this
essay assignment which is hotel of the star chain. This is a chain of hotels which provides
hospitality, food and lodging services to the customers who visit the hotel. This project is based
on the case study of Imperial hotel to determining the problem of poor team working and
inefficient use of IT systems in the Front office of hotel including Reception, Conference &
Banqueting, and Restaurant & Bars. This report will use the management theories to overcome
the issues of front office so that the performance can be enhanced.
Analysis of the problem
Identification of problem
The organisations such as Imperial hotel needs to determine the reasons which are
causing the issues and problem in the development of effective strategies so that the business
operations and functions can run effectively and smoothly. From the given case study of the
Imperial hotel, it has been identified that the Teams of the Front office such as Reception,
Conference & Banqueting, and Restaurant & Bars are working poorly and the coordination
among the team members. The issues among the team members also arising due to the in
efficient use of IT systems in the departments or teams such as reservation and property
management systems.
The front office particularly reception plays a major and important role in providing the
services and support to the customers and reception is the first who face the customers. The
Reception needs to be open 24 hours a day and the guest as well as staff calls reception in any
issue. Also the data regarding the arrival of guests, guest needs and guest billing etc. are

maintained by the reception. Some of the employees of the Reception staff are conflicting with
other staff as they get the various complaints regarding the wrong data provided to them. The
housekeeping staff also get the wrong information regarding the room availability and whether
the guest are staying in the hotel or not. Reception department also fails to inform the
housekeeping department regarding the late and early arrivals of guests due to which the rooms
are not cleaned at the right time and customers has to wait for the cleaning process before
entering the room. The conference and banqueting staff have also complained that they didn't get
the data regarding the number of guests who will attend the meetings and conferences. These
problems are mainly caused due to the lack of management in the Reception staff which leads to
the conflicts among the other staff of reception, banqueting staff and housekeeping.
Resolving issues
These conflicts among the staff can be eliminated or reduced by the supervisor by
adopting the democratic style of leadership in which the supervisor openly and honestly
communicate with the staff and teams for avoiding the conflicts and work effectively. These
issues of the staff can be resolved by the new Head of Department of Front Office and Reception
as he is aware of the conflicts and issues going on among the staff members (Alvesson and
Willmott, 2012). The team dynamics of the reception team is not good and also the team is
developed with inappropriate structure due to which there is a clash of some strong personalities
within the Department. The management also needs to implement the updates IT systems in their
hotel and provides the required technical training to employees so that they can work effectively
on new technological systems.
These issues can be resolved by analysing the team dynamics and structure of the team
which is possible by using the model of Tuckman and Jensen team development model. The 4
stages are discussed below:
Tuckman and Jensen model of team development
Forming is the first stage in which the team is formed by the leaders by determining the
capabilities and skills of the employees and task which they can perform (Clegg, Kornberger
and Pitsis, 2015). In this stage, the supervisor needs to convey to team members about the
importance of front office in providing the effective services to customers, Through this they can
understand their work for effective performance.

Storming is the second stage in which the team members starts gaining each other's trust
and provides their ideas and opinions. These ideas and opinions leads to rise in conflicts. The
Supervisor of the reception team needs to motivate their members for providing ideas to resolve
the issues of the staff in order to perform their work effectively.
Norming is the third stage in which the team members starts working properly. They
does not take criticism personally and focused on the goals of the teams (Hazen and et. al.,
2014). Supervisor of reception team needs to provide more autonomy to team so that they can
work independently and effectively in providing effective services to the customers.
Performing is the fourth stage in which the team works as a single entity and they
perform their assigned work keeping in mind of team goals. A proper working environment
forms in the teams and members resolves the issues of each other by coordinating in proper
manner.
Through these stages, the team dynamics of the team can improve due to which they can
perform their work in the reception team in proper manner for eliminating the conflicts.
Problem from management and operations perspective
Also due to the conflicts among the staff, the satisfaction of the guest will also becomes
low which often leads to the negative work culture. The supervisor also needs to determine this
issue from the perspective of management and operations. The conflicts among the staff can also
leads to problem of high employee turnover and high level of absenteeism among employees.
This can impact the operations and performance of the business and can put the pressure on the
management of hotel to increase their staffing budget.
For avoiding the problems such as negative work culture, high employee turnover and
high level of absenteeism among employees etc. the management needs to provide the bonus and
incentives to the staff based on their performance which will assist the staff in improving their
performance. Also the supervisors can provide the training to the reception staff for increasing
their confidence and motivation level (Hughes, 2012). The supervisors can also provides the
monetary rewards to the staff as employee of the month of the whole organisation as well as
employee of the month towards single department. Through these schemes and techniques, the
employees becomes motivated in their working and their performance, productivity and
efficiency will increase. Also the firm can sustain and earn high profit in the market if the
employees are motivated in their working.

Management theories
There are various management theories which can be used by the management of the
Imperial hotel for resolving the issues of the workers. Two of these theories are discussed below:
Mayo's Human Relation Theory
This theory states that the management of an organisation needs to focus on building and
maintaining proper relations among the staff members for ensuring that the employees get the
equal treatment at the workplace and they are involved in the decision-making process. Through
this equal treatment and involvement in the decision-making process, the employees tends to
improve their efficiency and performance which will also increase the productivity of the hotel
(Noe and et. al., 2017). Also the maintaining the relations with employees is helpful for
supervisor to determine the needs and demand of employees so that they can be provided with
the facilities which can enhance their morals for working in a suitable manner. Through this, a
better image of the supervisor can build among the employees which is helpful in resolving the
conflicts as employees can share their issues and problem with the supervisor regarding their
work. Through these relationships, a harmonious working environment can be created at the
workplace which is helpful for improving the efficiency and performance of employees.
Theory X and Theory Y
The theory of X and Y are discussed below:
Source: McGregor x and y theory, 2017
Theory X states that some of the employees in an organisation becomes lazy in their
working and they do not want to take responsibility, have no ambition and prefer to be
Illustration 1: McGregor x and y theory

supervised. These employees can be encourage to perform the work by using the authoritarian
leadership style. Through this style, the leaders can provide the rewards and punishment to such
employees based on their performance (Runyon, 2013). Through this, these workers can work in
proper manner for taking the benefits of the rewards and to avoid the punishment.
Theory Y states that the people have their own needs which varies in different people.
There are some employees existing in an organisation who are happy to perform their work, they
want to exert themselves and they are motivated to achieve their determined personal and
professional objectives. Such people does not needs rewards and punishments to perform better.
Such people tends to take the responsibility for everything they perform or do. These people uses
their creativity for problem solving and performing their work.
Through these theories, management of the Imperial hotel can provide effective services
to the customers as the conflicts among the team members of reception team (Wilkinson, Wood
and Demirbag, 2014). Through these theories, the management can motivate their reception
team to perform their work in an effective manner and if they are not properly doing their work
then they are entitled to penalty or punishment.
Principles of Management
There are several principles of management which can be used by the management of the
Imperial hotel for resolving the issues of the team members of reception team. These principles
are discussed below:
 Division of Work: The management of the Imperial hotel needs to determine that the
work is allocated to employees based on their skills so that conflicts will not arise in their
working.
 Unity of Command: The management of Imperial hotel needs to determine that their
chain of command is structured in order to avoid issues arising in the reception and
housekeeping team (Vaccaro and et. al., 2012). When employees knows whom they have
to report then they can communicate their issues directly to a suitable person.
 Authority and Responsibility: Management of the Imperial Hotel needs to provide the
authority and responsibility to such persons who can take the decisions with confidence
for the betterment of organisation.
Through these principles of management, the management can resolve the issues if team
members in an effective manner so that the quality of service, staff morale, operational efficiency

and productivity can be enhanced. Also the Imperial hotel can financially and ethically sustain in
the market by using these principles for resolving the conflicts.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that in order to resolve the issues of team
members, the supervisor needs to provide the training and incentives schemes to team members
of reception team. Through these incentives and training, their morale as well as performance
and efficiency can improve which is also helpful in enhancing the performance and productivity
of the hotel. When the issues among the workers are reduced then they can provide their services
to the customers effectively which leads to customer satisfaction. The supervisor can use the
Tuckman and Jensen model for forming a effective team which can assist the firm in enhancing
the capability and performance of team. Also the management theories are helpful for the
management in resolving the conflicts and increasing the motivation among the team.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H., 2012. Making sense of management: A critical introduction.
Sage.
Clegg, S.R., Kornberger, M. and Pitsis, T., 2015. Managing and organizations: An introduction
to theory and practice. Sage.
Hazen, B.T., and et. al., 2014. Data quality for data science, predictive analytics, and big data in
supply chain management: An introduction to the problem and suggestions for research
and applications. International Journal of Production Economics. 154. pp.72-80.
Hughes, O.E., 2012. Public management and administration: An introduction. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Noe and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Runyon, B. A., 2013. Introduction to the revised American Association for the Study of Liver
Diseases Practice Guideline management of adult patients with ascites due to cirrhosis
2012. Hepatology. 57(4). pp.1651-1653.
Vaccaro and et. al., 2012. Management innovation and leadership: The moderating role of
organizational size. Journal of management studies. 49(1). pp.28-51.
Wilkinson, A., Wood, G. and Demirbag, M., 2014. Guest editors’ introduction: People
management and emerging market multinationals. Human Resource Management.
53(6). pp.835-849.
Online
McGregor x and y theory. 2017. [Available through]: <https://janacraft.com/2017/02/theory-x-
parenting-in-a-theory-y-world/>