Leadership and Management: A Case Study of Imperial Hotel's Culture

This case study examines the Imperial Hotel in London, a 4-star establishment facing significant challenges related to its negative work culture. The analysis focuses on the impact of inflexible working hours, high employee turnover, and pressure to meet sales targets on staff morale and productivity. The report reviews management theories such as systematic management, human relations approach, and employee equity theory to address the issues of employee absenteeism, low satisfaction, and poor attendance. The study highlights the effects of the negative work environment, including increased operational costs, decreased profitability, and potential ethical issues. The conclusion recommends the implementation of flexible working hours, improved training programs, and the adoption of organizational citizenship behavior to foster a more positive and productive workplace. The case study emphasizes the importance of leadership in creating a supportive environment and improving overall organizational performance. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-powered study tools.

Case Study – The
Imperial Hotel, London

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Review of management theory in context of Negative culture........................................3
1.2 Analysis of negative work culture at Imperial Hotel.......................................................5
1.3 Effects of negative work culture at Imperial Hotel..........................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Work culture is defined as behaviours and beliefs that helps in determining how
employees and management of company interact and handle various transactions of business. It
is combination of attributes which rise in both employees and whole organisation and is regarded
as appropriate way to perform their tasks and act effectively (Arcury, and et. al., 2015). The
healthy work culture is very much important for each organisation. The managers are responsible
for defining, refining and creating good work culture in company. Every organisation should
have positive work environment for employees and workers so that objectives are accomplished
effectively and efficiently. In the present report it has been discussed about Imperial Hotel which
was designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll in 1966 which is situated in London,UK. This hotel is 500
bedroom hotel managed and owned by 4 star international chain of hotels. It caters needs of
international tourists guests and businesses having high expectation for service quality and
standards. Imperial hotel facilitates customers with conference room, leisure centre,bars,
restaurants and bedroom amenities.
The organisation structure includes 6 departments which are guest services & concierge,
food & beverage, housekeeping, front house & reception and Human resources and training. This
report will be discussing about the problem of negative work culture among employees along
with high level of sickness and poor attendance in the organisation. Also, management theory is
described related to above mentioned problem. Along with this various procedures and processes
for effective management of problem will be analysed and justification will be provided for
finding out resolution of organisation problem.
MAIN BODY
1.1 Review of management theory in context of Negative culture.
The term management theories are known as set of general rules which assist manager in
effective management of organisation. These are explanation to help employees relate goals and
implement them effectively so as to achieve them on time (Bratton, and Gold, 2017). Their are
various management theories like scientific management, systematic management, bureaucratic
and behavioural theory of management which are applied in every organisation for long term
success and growth. In context of Imperial hotel the management is facing negative work culture

as employees are getting sick which leads to poor attendance and decrease in productivity. The
managers to overcome this problem in efficient and efficacious manner they can apply
systematic management theory and many other theories which will help in enhancing
performance and increasing productivity.
This approach of management mainly emphasis upon management process and procedure
rather than on final results. Systematic management theory was given by Adam Smith in the year
1776 with the objective to help managers of organisation in effective management in systematic
manner. In context of Imperial Hotel managers should apply systematic management theory
which will help to work effectively (Cunningham, and Dawes, 2016). This will assist both
managers and employee to work in harmonious and coordinated manner. For success and growth
major elements that managers of Imperial hotel can consider are interdependence, synergy, and
interrelations with various functions of organisation. The department head and general manager
have to increase occupancy of hotel by increasing rate as there are under continuous pressure to
push up sales on monthly basis. The organisation culture of working with five star hotels are
mainly performance driven which is analysed by survey of satisfaction of guest. Their is
perception among guest that London hotels are highly priced but don't offer services for value of
money. The work culture of Imperial hotel is toxic and inefficient. Their are very strict working
hours as hotel operates for 24 hour and 365 days which leads to sickness of employees in short
span of time.
The managers of Imperial Hotel follow authoritarian or dictatorial style of management
which creates negative work culture and hamper both productivity and performance of
employees. To overcome this situation managers in systematic way allow employees to take
active participation in decision making process by application of either democratic or
consultative management style. Also this will help to improve work culture of Imperial hotel as
employees feel highly motivated and committed towards their work or job. If management of
Imperial Hotel want to have positive work culture among staff members than they must adopt
consultative management style and provide employees with flexible working hours and shifts.
As per problem faced by Imperial Hotel that is negative work culture amongst staff
members as standard operating procedures (SOPS) are not been achieved so manager should
establish organisational citizenship behaviour which will help in making effective and positive
work environment of hotel. The new manager Peter Farnsworth can adopt is human relations

approach, employee equity theory and need theory other than systematic management theory
which will help in creating positive work culture in hotel.
The human relations approach of management focuses on analysing how individuals
interact with each other at workplace (James, 2017). This theory was propounded by Elton Mayo
in the year 1990 with motive to improve organisational performance. The main assumption of
this theory is that goals and objectives of organisation can be achieved through and by people so
it is important to fulfil employees expectations and keep them highly motivated. Along with this
new manager Peter Farnsworth can apply employee equity theory which is concerned with
improving productivity and morale of employees. It is essential for Imperial Hotel to make sure
that employees are rewarded with proper incentive on the basis of their performance and inputs.
To have positive work culture at imperial hotel employees can be appraised with job security,
flexible working hours and incentives as this will help them to increase both productivity and
performance.
Therefore from the above discussion it can be said that employees of Imperial Hotel must
be provided with flexible working hours, tasks or roles must be allotted in systematic manner as
this will not allow them to take sick leaves and take frequent leaves because of poor work
culture.
1.2 Analysis of negative work culture at Imperial Hotel
The negative culture among staff including sick leave and poor attendance at Imperial
Hotel is major problem for new general manager which he is required to tackle. The previous
general manager was not able to provide positive work culture as hotel was busy operating for 24
hours and 365 days which shows hectic working schedule which leads to negative work culture.
employee’s now started going on sick leave on short notice (Kaneko, 2016). Also, part time
employees mainly were females were not able to reach for work on time due to family
commitment and there is high turnover of supervisor staff because of lack of supervision to
employees. As mentioned in case study the rate of turnover at Imperial Hotel is 80% because of
inflexible working hours and continuous pressure on both managers and employee’s. Their is
negative work culture at hotel because of pressure and hectic working schedules.
At present, the culture of Imperial hotel is negative as employees cite unsociable
working hours which leads to employee absenteeism and leaves on short notice. Also, part time

employees mainly female workers are absent from hotel because they stuck due to commitments
with family and uncertain circumstances in family influences them to take leaves and also they
are frustrated with exertion, pressure and hectic working schedules (Wu, 2015). Also, employees
lack training, ineffective packages are provided and no opportunity for promotion to position of
supervisor so there is negative work culture in organisation. Their is poor organisational culture
at Imperial Hotel because employees and managers have ineffective relationship with each other.
Lastly, there is fierce competition as many similar hotels are operational which provides their
employee’s with effective pays and better working conditions than Imperial Hotel which leads
to negative work culture as employees are not motivated and satisfied.
1.3 Effects of negative work culture at Imperial Hotel
Work culture is that factor which is considered very important and essential in different
organisation as this helps in increasing productivity of employee’s. Their is potential of work
culture to affect performance and productivity of both employee’s and hotel and if there is
negative work culture this will act as obstacle in effectiveness of work of employees. In the
Premises of Imperial Hotel there is requirement of introducing good organisational culture as this
will enhance employee performance.
According to Lee, 2017, negative work culture in business organisation is considered as
cause of concern because of negative impact which is associated with culture, attendance and
leaves. Negative culture and absenteeism leads to increase in operating cost for managers of
Imperial Hotel as it is difficult to manage cost which will occur while hiring, selecting and
training new employee’s. This issue of negative culture should be tackled on time as this will put
adverse impact on profitability of Hotel. The manager of Imperial hotel must emphasis on
providing sociable and flexible working hours to employees as their efficiency and level of
performance is maintained. Also human resource department of Imperial Hotel have to conduct
recruitment and selection process which will be very costly along with this huge training cost
will be incurred. Both these aspects will increase operational and training cost. In addition to this
Imperial hotel managers may need help from external consultants to resolve problem of negative
work culture. Due to negative work culture inventory on regular basis is pilfered as employees

are unable to meet standard operating procedures (SOPS) which usually results in high operating
costs (Noe, and et. al., 2017). Therefore, new managers must focus on establishing
organisational citizenship behaviour which will allow him to inculcate values of company in
employee’s. This is defined as part of autonomous behaviour that has ability to enhance
effectiveness of organisation but it is not concerned with providing reward system.
The negative work culture at Imperial Hotel can lead to decrease in employee morale. It
is very essential for employee’s to have high morale of employee’s as this affects both
performance and productivity. Their is poor culture in hotel because employees are frustrated and
full of excursion which leads to absenteeism and turnover of employee’s. The negative culture in
organisation rise by various factors which includes poor communication, focus on profit& facing
competition, low employee engagement, higher rates of absenteeism, lack of flexibility and
empathy. The poor culture promotes unethical behaviour which destroys trust and present inside
and outside the workplace. Their is significant effect on how employees feel at workplace which
influences level of happiness and performance while doing work. Along with this toxic culture
infect others and causes businesses to shut down which provided opportunities to competitive
parties.
The negative culture in organisation causes management frustrations as managers have
spend huge funds for recruiting, selecting and hiring new workforce (Shafritz, 2015). At the time
of focusing upon improvement in delivery of services and performance of Imperial Hotel as
most of time is spend on handling and resolving conflicts and problems of employees. As
managers want to have positive and effective work culture in organisation. Therefore, from the
above discussion it can be said that there is negative impact of poor work culture on profitability,
productivity and efficiency of organisation including employees too.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussed individual report the major problem faced by Imperial Hotel is
negative work culture among employees. It has been identified that there are various reasons for
poor work culture such as low level of employee morale, poor satisfaction level, inflexible
working hours, continuous pressure for achieving targets and increasing sales. It can be
suggested that manager should apply mainly three management theories employee equity,
systematic management theory and human relations approach. As application of these theories
will help in providing employee’s with flexible working hours, effective packages and training
for growth and to identify potential. The actions of manager must be free from favouritism and
frustration as they are responsible for making negative work culture into positive work culture.
Also this will help in decreasing operational and training cost and will subsequently
enhance level of income. Along with this is has been identified that negative work culture leads
to decrease in employees productivity and effectiveness. Therefore, actions of general manager
must be framed and delivered in such a way which have positive influence on employees. The
application of Standard Operating procedure will assist managers in reinforcing values of
companies. Lastly, new recruitment policy must be considered along with in-house training
programmes which will help in selecting suitable candidate which will help in overcoming
problem of poor performance.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arcury, T. A., and et. al., 2015. Work safety culture of youth farmworkers in North Carolina: a
pilot study. American journal of public health, 105(2). pp.344-350.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Cunningham, I. and Dawes, G., 2016. The handbook of work based learning. Routledge.

James, M., 2017. Negative politics: The conformity, struggles and radical possibilities of youth
culture in outer East London. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(2).pp.107-124.
Kaneko, K., 2016. Nobuo Murakami, executive chef of the Imperial Hotel and Ambroise Paré,
surgeon in ordinary to the kings of France. Journal of Orthopaedic Science, 21(3).
pp.255-257.
Lee, M. C .C., Idris, M. A. and Delfabbro, P. H., 2017. The linkages between hierarchical
culture and empowering leadership and their effects on employees’ work engagement:
Work meaningfulness as a mediator. International Journal of Stress Management, 24(4).
p.392.
Noe, R. A., and et. al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shafritz, J. M., 2015. Classics of organization theory. Cengage Learning.
Wu, C.H., Luksyte, A. and Parker, S.K., 2015. Overqualification and subjective well-being at
work: The moderating role of job autonomy and culture. Social Indicators
Research, 121(3). pp.917-937.