Imperial Hotel Case Study: Addressing High Employee Turnover

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Imperial Hotel Case
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
Review of management theory and principles.................................................................4
Causes of Employee turnover in Imperial Hotels.............................................................5
3-Point Plan for resolving the issue..................................................................................6
Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 8
References.......................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
This report is prepared in order to analyze the [problems associated with the
management of the Imperial Hotel London. There will be made the analysis of different
problems highlighted in such a case. Imperial Hotel is a 500 bedroom hotel situated in
London. There are several numbers of facilities provided by the hotel to their staff
members as well as to the customers. This hotel is facing different management related
issues and there are identified the problems related to staff, management system as
well as poor guest satisfaction. This report will present the use of different management
and operational theories to analyze the problem of high employee turnover within the
organization. There will also be provided a 3 step plan to solve such issue of high
turnover due to the low morale of the employees.
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Review of management theory and principles
There are identified the problem of high staff turnover in a year because 80% of the staff
has left the organization in one year. Generally, there is identified that the staff turnover
tends to be high in the hotels due to the temporary nature of the employment within the
organization. There are identified the problem of high staff turnover due to the low
morale of the employees. There are several numbers of reasons identified for such low
morale among the employees such as lack of regular and appropriate training,
unsociable hours of work, aggressive management and supervisory style as well as a
lack in the opportunities of promotion (Rudolph, 2016). There were identified the poor
working conditions within the Imperial Hotel which caused to the lack of satisfaction and
motivation among the employees. The most significant theory that can be used to
analyze this problem is the dual-factor theory or the motivation-hygiene theories
which can be helpful in identifying the reasons behind this problem within the company.
It has been identified in this theory that the presence of the motivational factors within
an organization can cause to the hard work of the employees. These motivational
factors are generally found within the actual job. The motivational factors include the
growth, achievements, recognition, advancement as well as the responsibilities. The
presence of these elements can cause motivation among the employees to work hard
and to be retained within the company (Mangi, et. al., 2015).
On the other hand, the other factors are the hygiene factors and the absence of such
factors may cause the employees to work less hard. These factors are generally not
presented in the actual job itself but in the surrounding of the job (Gucciardi, 2015).
Such hygiene factors include the supervision, policies of the company, relationships,
salary, remuneration, work condition in the company as well as the security. This theory
can be helpful in the identification of the relevant factors for the purpose of retention of
the employees of such company. Motivation is highly important for the employees to
work in the company. Without any motivation, the employees will not be able to give
their 100 percent at the work. This may lead to the problem of high employee turnover
within the organization. There is a need to solve this problem by making an effective
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strategy by the managers of Hotel Imperial. This problem is increasing with time due to
the low morale in the employees (Lavergne and Pelletier, 2016).
Causes of Employee turnover in Imperial Hotels
High employee turnover has always been a significant concern for organizations. This
concern has enhanced due to the increased globalization that led to high competition. In
the case of Imperial Hotels, many causes resulted in the high staff turnover as seen
from the management and operational perspective. It has been identified that this issue
has been prevalent mainly among front-line staff. The exit interviews with the
employees leaving the hotel have identified the following causes:
 Lack of training: Every employee expects proper training for the roles and
responsibilities assigned to him. Imperial hotel failed to provide training properly
to the front-line staff that enabled them to perform poorly (Mozael, 2015). It
enhanced the job dissatisfaction due to which the employees had to leave the
hotel.
 Better offerings by rivalry hotels: The competitor hotels are providing better
working conditions and pay-scale along with associated benefits. While, in
Imperial hotels, the employees were offering lower pay and improper working
conditions and it has resulted in convenient job switching by the employees.
 Difficulty in travelling: Located in Central London, it has become difficult for
the employees to reach home at night due to non-availability of transportation.
Apart from this, high cost requires for travelling to Central London, which
enhances staff's expenses. The hotel provides no transportation facility or extra
pay for such costs (Lytovchenko, 2016).
 No growth and development: It has been identified that the hotel fails to
provide growth and development opportunities. The staff works for months with
the same pay-scale and higher workload (Haider et al., 2015). Promotions and
bonuses act as the motivation sources for the employees, and the absence of
these sources would naturally enhance the job dissatisfaction and turnover.
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 Aggressive management style: Aggressive management style can never be
fruitful for any organization. It results in conflicts and negative working
environment, as seen in the Imperial Hotel. Such management style can never
retain employees for long periods as evident in Imperial Hotel since employees
can work effectively when they feel that they are getting heard or they are the
assets of the hotel (Schoar and Zuo, 2016).
 Other causes: Certain causes are also prevalent in the Imperial Hotel due to
which the employee turnover has been enhanced. These causes are insufficient
pay to the employees considering the workload and non-flexible working hours.
These working hours have hindered the personal life of the employees.
It would not be wrong to say that the issue of high staff turnover is inter-related to other
problems prevalent in the Imperial Hotel. Approximately 80% of the staff has been
leaving the hotel every year. It is a considerable rate that should raise serious concern
for the hotel. Every year, the hotel has to employ new staff for replacing the left
employees. It is indeed difficult for new employees to provide as much guest
satisfaction as experienced employees (Yang et al., 2018). Therefore, the hotel failed to
generate high guest satisfaction. Also, there is a lack of training program in the hotel so
that the work quality of new employees can enhance. Long or unsociable working hours
consider one of the principal causes for the employee turnover increment.
Staff turnover has increased workload on the existing staff due to which the issues of
sick leaves and poor attendance have been dealt with by the Imperial Hotel. All
problems have caused a negative working environment in the hotel due to which
employees became de-motivated and unsupportive. Poor management and supervisory
staff have led to conflicts. The issues of front-line staff have increased due to these
conflicts as there is no team working, and lack of training resulted in inefficiency in the
IT system utilization (Robinson et al., 2014). Staff turnover has been prevalent among
supervisory staff as well in the Imperial hotel. Hence, there occurred the absence of
supervision on back of house staff. The back of the house staff failed to adhere to the
basic Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS). Lack of supervision also led to the stock
stealing within the hotel.
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3-Point Plan for resolving the issue
The Imperial hotel has been dealing with several problems out of which high employee
turnover considers one of the severe concerns. It is necessary for the hotel to resolve
this issue immediately since it directly impacts the hotel’s financial and non-financial
performance. A 3-point plan has been developed for service quality improvement, high
operational productivity and enhanced staff morale.
Growth and development opportunities
An employee associates with a company after considering the growth and development
opportunities. It can help not only in employee motivation but also in attracting talented
personnel. With growth and development opportunities, the employees would be
motivated to work even on unsociable or long working hours (Tahir et al., 2014).
Training to the employees would assist in saving huge operating costs as well as
enhancing the operational efficiency and productivity. This action would target the other
aims of high service quality and staff morale.
A high degree of flexibility
Providing flexibility to the employees considers a great initiative while dealing with
employee turnover. It would support the employees to maintain a sufficient balance
between his personal and professional lives. This action provides employees with a
specific degree of freedom to manage work and working hours. It makes the work fun
for the employees, and they get motivated with the flexible working hours (Edmans et
al., 2014). Also, the Imperial hotel can make them work more than their capacity by
motivating them through a flexible working approach. In recent times, this approach
helps in enhancing productivity and performance as the employees work with a positive
mind.
Adequate compensation
It is seen that the staff is not provided with fair pay and less than the competitors’
offerings. It has made the job switching an easier task for the staff of the Imperial hotel.
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Compensation considers as one of the significant factors for employee retention. It is
necessary for the Imperial Hotel to provide adequate compensation to the employees as
per the industry. Competent compensation packages may help the employee to switch
to another company. Fair compensation may also include other benefits such as
insurance or bonuses etc. Also, employee motivation is vital for the survival of any
organization in the long-term (Tangthong et al., 2014). Financial factors surely boost
employee motivation even during the turbulence. The imperial hotel can attain high
employee satisfaction by paying the correct compensation.
Conclusion
This report has concluded that the problem identified in the case of Hotel Imperial in
London is a very big problem. This report has explained that in order to find the solution
of employees high turnover within the company, there is a need for introducing the
customer loyalty programs. These programs will prove to be helpful in increasing the
morale of the company. The employees can also be provided the incentives for their
good work which can be helpful in making the employees feel valuable. Overall there
has also been used the operation theories and management principles to analyze such
problems and finding the solutions for them.
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References
 Edmans, A., Li, L. and Zhang, C., 2014. Employee satisfaction, labor market
flexibility, and stock returns around the world (No. w20300). National Bureau of
Economic Research.
 Gucciardi, D.F., Jackson, B., Hodge, K., Anthony, D.R. and Brooke, L.E., 2015.
Implicit theories of mental toughness: Relations with cognitive, motivational, and
behavioral correlates. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 4(2),
p.100.
 Haider, M., Rasli, A., Akhtar, C.S., Yusoff, R.B.M., Malik, O.M., Aamir, A., Arif,
A., Naveed, S. and Tariq, F., 2015. The impact of human resource practices on
employee retention in the telecom sector. International Journal of Economics
and Financial Issues, 5(1S), pp.63-69.
 Lavergne, K.J. and Pelletier, L.G., 2016. Why is attitude-behavior
inconsistencies uncomfortable? Using motivational theories to explore individual
differences in dissonance arousal and motivation to compensate. Motivation and
Emotion, 40(6), pp.842-861.
 Lytovchenko, I., 2016. Corporate university as a form of employee training and
development in American companies.
 Manga, A.A., Kanasro, H.A. and Burdi, M.B., 2015. Motivation tools and
organizational success: A critical analysis of motivational theories. The
Government-Annual Research Journal of Political Science., 4(4).
 Mozael, B., 2015. Impact of training and development programs on employee
performance. International Journal of Scientific and Research
Publications, 5(11), pp.37-42.
 Robinson, R.N., Kralj, A., Solnet, D.J., Goh, E. and Callan, V., 2014. Thinking
job embeddedness not turnover: Towards a better understanding of front-line
hotel worker retention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36,
pp.101-109.
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 Rudolph, C.W., 2016. Lifespan developmental perspectives on working: A
literature review of motivational theories. Work, Aging and Retirement, 2(2),
pp.130-158.
 Schoar, A. and Zuo, L., 2016. Does the market value CEO styles?. American
Economic Review, 106(5), pp.262-66.
 Tahir, N., Yousafzai, I.K., Jan, S. and Hashim, M., 2014. The Impact of Training
and Development on Employees Performance and Productivity A case study of
United Bank Limited Peshawar City, KPK, Pakistan. International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(4), p.86.
 Tangthong, S., Trimetsoontorn, J. and Rojniruntikul, N., 2014. HRM Practices
and Employee Retention in Thailand—A. International Journal of Trade,
Economics and Finance, 5(2).
 Yang, Y., Mao, Z. and Tang, J., 2018. Understanding guest satisfaction with
urban hotel location. Journal of Travel Research, 57(2), pp.243-259.
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Appendix 1: Imperial Hotel Case Study Planning Sheet submission
Student Name/No:
Group/Seminar Tutor:
Date of submission:
Problem No:
Problem 2: High staff turnover with 80% of the staff leaving within the year
 What do you consider the core reasons for this specific problem at the hotel?
It has been identified that there are numerous reasons due to which the Imperial hotel
has encountered with the high staff turnover issue. The hotel has been providing low
pay and less attractive compensation packages as compared to the competitor hotels.
Also, long working hours, improper training, high travelling costs, no transportation
facility and aggressive management style have pushed the staff against the hotel
performance. All these issues have resulted in employee dissatisfaction as well as lack
of commitment.
 Briefly identify how your specific problem may be linked to any other of the 4
remaining problems identified in the hotel case (Confer with your team members
who investigating the other listed problems)
In the Imperial hotel case, the staff turnover rate has been increased rapidly due to
several reasons. The turnover rate has directly impacted the quality of services being
provided to the hotel guest. It has led to poor guest satisfaction. The turnover rate has
led to a lack of supervision due to which the negligence of back of house staff raising
several issues. The front-line staff inefficiently uses the IT systems due to the lack of
training and leaving of trained employees from the hotel. There are conflicts aroused in
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the hotel due to which negative environment has created.
 How useful do you consider the suggested actions are proposed by Peter
Farnsworth to resolve your specific problem?
Adequate compensation, growth opportunities and flexibility to employees would be a
useful action plan for dealing with the high staff turnover rate in the Imperial Hotel.
These actions would assist in boosting employee morale, and this will ultimately
improve the operational productivity of the employees. Through this, the negative
working environment can transform into a fun and positive environment in the Imperial
Hotel.
 Consider an alternative way that this specific problem could be resolved
which has not as yet been considered.
An alternate way using which the staff turnover issue can address by Imperial Hotel is
adopting good hiring practices. The hotel can hire the right people initially in reducing
the problems associated with staff turnover. It is necessary for the Imperial hotel to
screen the potential hiring personnel carefully.
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