Analysis of Back-of-House Staff Issues at the Imperial Hotel

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This case study analyzes the Imperial Hotel's back-of-house staff issues.

CASE STUDY OF IMPERIAL HOTEL
TASK 5: BACK OF HOUSE STAFF
1

Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 4
MARKET POSITIONING OF THE IMPERIAL HOTEL...........................................................................5
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF PROBLEM 5...........................................................................................6
ANALYSIS OF BACK OF HOUSE STAFF PROBLEM WHICH RESULTS INTO HIGH OPERATING COSTS
WITH THE HELP OF MANAGERIAL APPROACH...............................................................................7
MANAGEMENT REQUIRED AT THE OPERATIONAL LEVEL............................................................10
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................. 14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 15
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................16
2

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Functional Leadership Theory..........................................................................................7
Figure 2 Lewin's model of Change Management...........................................................................8
Figure 3 Operational Structure of Imperial Hotel........................................................................10
Figure 4 Performance Data Analysis of Imperial Hotel................................................................11
Figure 5 Structure of Housekeeping Department........................................................................12
3

THE IMPERIAL HOTEL, LONDON, UK
INTRODUCTION
There are various problems faced by the organizations as they fail to manage the operations
with internal and external changing factors. Problems such as poor customer services which
cause customer dissatisfaction, increase in the cost of operations, improper functioning of
operations and so on. In the following report, the analysis of task 5 which is related to the back
of house staff in context to the case study of Imperial Hotel and various solutions to be used by
General Manager Peter Farnsworth is being integrated.
Hospitality- The Central Part of the Business
To generate wealth for the shareholders, hospitality plays an important role by satisfying the
customers/guests. The word hospitality has been derived from the Latin word “Hospitare"
which is defined as “receive as a guest”. This definition simply proves that the services offered
to any person are guests and not a customer (Lopes, 2016). The relationship between the
producer and the receiver becomes sympathetic and the business is diverted from the value as
well as price report. This may affect the staff and the guests at the ground level. Therefore,
managing humans has a great impact on service quality and guests satisfaction (Kim et al.,
2015).
4

5

MARKET POSITIONING OF THE IMPERIAL HOTEL
Before addressing the problem of the organization, Peter Farnsworth should acknowledge the
environmental factors that affect the performance of the Imperial Hotel. There are three
factors in the environment that influences the internal operations of the business such as
macro environment, internal environment and microenvironment. With the help of porters five
forces model, the external environment of the business can be analyzed:
Bargaining power of suppliers: As there is a huge demand of bookings in the hotels, the
suppliers i.e. the hotels became more attentive towards their position and initiated to develop
the products by giving the strong bargaining power. But, there is a huge demand for skilled
labours and staff to be supplied in the hotel industry (Singal, 2015).
Bargaining power of buyers: This situation is generally faced when there are the group of
buyers such as tour operators, event organizers who want to book the hotel for a specific
number of people (Singal, 2015).
Threats of New Entrants: As there are many new entrants that are mainly the global
competitors restricts them to enter this industry due to the high level of investment. Thus the
Imperial Hotel is having the maximum size to operate and develop the top position in the world
(Singal, 2015).
Threats of Substitute Products: There are fewer chances of the technologies that affect this
industry. But during the time of recession and financial crisis, the professional guests change
their habits of accommodation. So for the Imperial Hotel, the substitute product is during such
time, guests prefer to stay at relatives’ places or at motels (Singal, 2015).
Rivalry: The level of competition increases when the competitors increase the capacity of the
hotel i.e. increase the number of rooms, di8fferentiate the products, brand image of the hotel,
occupancy of the rooms and fixed costs. All such factors are strongly affecting the business
operations of the Imperial Hotel (Singal, 2015).
6

7

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF PROBLEM 5
The problem that is given in task 5 is generated due to the irregularities of the staff that affects
the organizational values of the Imperial Hotel and other following reasons given in the case
study:
The improper functioning of operations due to high staff turnover: The issue arises due to the
improper training and development programs provided at the hotel due to the unavailability of
staff. To retain the staff, proper training with adequate incentives and bonuses should be
provided (Goh and Kong, 2018).
A negative culture at the workplace among the staff results in an increase in sick leaves and
poor attendance: As given in the problem, not meeting the Standard Operating Procedures
results in the stocks are being absconded regularly is generated due to the negative culture at
the workplace and it leads to the high operating costs. For this, the manager of the Imperial
Hotel should develop the behaviour of organization citizenship among the employees which will
increase the effectiveness of the operations (Goh and Kong, 2018).
Ineffective leadership and management skills created by the old general manager: As given in
the case, the salaries of the staff are low and this creates the job dissatisfaction among the
staff. So the manager should not only focus on external guests but should fulfil the needs of the
staff by catering them the needs that they required (Goh and Kong, 2018).
The unethical environment at the workplace: due to the unethical environment at the
workplace, it leads to a lack of coordination and cooperation among the departments which
decreases the team spirit. For this, a proper ethical environment should be redesigned which
will create an ethical climate in an organization (Goh and Kong, 2018).
Thus all the above problem are the causes of the problem given in the case study that increases
the operational costs and also effects on improper functioning of the front of house staff and
leads to guest dissatisfaction.
8

ANALYSIS OF BACK OF HOUSE STAFF PROBLEM WHICH RESULTS INTO HIGH
OPERATING COSTS WITH THE HELP OF MANAGERIAL APPROACH
As the given case study reflects on the inefficiency among the staff which results into various
problems at the workplace, for this Peter Farnsworth should consider the 5 Principles of Taylor
that will help the organization to achieve the prosperity among the employers and
employees/staff both (Ferry, 2016).
1. Using scientific methods to determine the best way to do things.
2. To select the best person who is physically and mentally strong.
3. Providing proper training and development as per the given methods.
4. To provide relevant financial incentives.
5. To plan and organize the activities in all the departments (Ferry, 2016).
In the current situation at the Imperial Hotel, the most appropriate role for Peter Farnsworth
should be the interpersonal role defined by Mintzberg which includes the role of an individual
as leader, figurehead, and liaison. At this stage, the manager concentrates at forming the new
team and never avoids the immediate tasks and also focuses on developing the individuals.
Thus the proper balance between team, task and individual is required (Kumar, 2015).
Figure 1 Functional Leadership Theory
(Source: Kumar, 2015)
9

Due to this, the manager Peter Farnsworth has to enforce the decision in each situation by
applying the Situational approach of Hersey and Blanchard which states that the leaders should
coordinate their approaches as per the commitment and competence of the subordinates. This
will also create a link of communication between managers and employees of the Imperial
Hotel (Raza and Sikandar, 2018).
Peter Farnsworth can also consider Participative style of leadership in which the staff are also
involved in taking the decisions and when there are the need decisions to be taken on the
urgent basis, Directive Style of Leadership should be followed (Raza and Sikandar, 2018).
The most suitable management style to be adopted by Peter Farnsworth should be Situational
approach. He should concentrate on achieving the objectives by communicating the tasks with
the staff. He should accomplish with the rules and regulations while applying the standard
procedures and should train the teams and motivate them by delegating the authorities (Raza
and Sikandar, 2018).
Apart from all this, changes in the organization can create discomfort and resistibility among
the staff. So for this, Peter Farnsworth can consider Schein’s elaboration-Lewin’s model (Hayes,
2018).
Figure 2 Lewin's model of Change Management
(Source: Hayes, 2018)
10

1st Stage: Unfreezing
 Creating guilt and survival anxiety.
 To overcome the anxieties of learning to create psychological safety.
 Disconfirmation (Hayes, 2018).
2nd Stage: Learning new concepts
 Identifying and imitating role models.
 To scan the solutions and learn with trial and error method (Hayes, 2018).
3rd Stage: Refreezing- Introducing the new concepts
 Incorporating with concept and meanings related to self.
 Incorporating with on-going relationships (Hayes, 2018).
Thus as the decisions of Peter Farnsworth affect the situation of the organization, therefore he
should consider the ethical leadership that will influence Human Resources at Imperial Hotel.
According to Feng-Hsia Kao and Bor-Shiuan Cheng, there are two types of employees in the
hospitality sector (Ariza-Montes et al., 2017).
Idealistic Employees: Such employees follow the rules of moral values.
Relativistic Employees: Such employees are service wrecker and does not accept the universal
rules and always think about personal benefit (Ariza-Montes et al., 2017).
Thus, the employees who are idealistic are service-oriented and concerned with the
organizational values and such individuals create the ethical climate and have a positive impact
on organizational behaviour.
11

MANAGEMENT REQUIRED AT THE OPERATIONAL LEVEL
As it is given in the case study that the Imperial Hotel is running very low, Peter Farnsworth
should be the top executive in the organization so that he can have every department under his
control.
Figure 3 Operational Structure of the Imperial Hotel
(Source: Kimes, 2016)
Peter Farnsworth must exercise the power of authority to control the departments (Kimes,
2016) and should improve the space between the expectation and actual outcome as given
here:
12