Imperial Hotel Case: Enhancing Management and Employee Culture

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This report examines the case of Imperial Hotel, a UK-based hotel facing challenges such as a negative work culture, high absenteeism, and declining guest satisfaction. The analysis utilizes management theories like Kotter’s change management, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and various leadership theories to understand the root causes of these issues. The report identifies authoritarian management styles, minimal supervision, lack of motivation, and poor work-life balance as key contributors to the negative environment. It then evaluates the General Manager's proposed solutions, including improved supervision, fostering collaboration, staff involvement in problem-solving, rewarding good performance, and better training. Alternative solutions, such as adopting democratic and transformational leadership styles and promoting employee engagement through recreational activities, are also suggested. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for cultural change supported by both management and employees to improve the hotel's performance and employee well-being. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

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Introduction to Management

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the individual problem..................................................................................................3
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................... 9
Reference List................................................................................................................................ 10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
The business organizations are continuously attempting to manage and improvise business
productivity and performance. In the current situation, it has been keenly observed that the
competition level is huge among the different business organizations. Therefore, it is essential to
shed much light on the organizational activities and its business operations. In order to do so, the
organizational management undertakes various methods and tools. In this context, the
organizational effectiveness is highly dependent on the business performance and excellence of
the employees (Bratton and Gold, 2017). However, poor performance and commitment of
employees significantly hinders the organizational performance overall.
Thus, the managers need to undertake strong measures regarding supervision of employee’s
performance along with thorough motivation to perform well. Imperial Hotel is an UK based
hotel, which is running its business under the Stat Hotels chain. This organization is operating its
business since nearly 100 years, indicting its good reputation and high customer satisfaction. The
organizational location indicates its target is usually the guests seeking high service standards.
However, due to several organizational issues, the organizational profit margin and guest
satisfaction is reducing. The new general manager Peter Farnsworth has identified some key
issues in the organizational context, one of which is poor staff commitment, high absenteeism
due to negative culture. In the following assignment, the issue would be reviewed and analyzed
with the help of management theories along with analysis of his proposed solution.
Analysis of the individual problem
Review of management theory related to the specific problem in Imperial Hotel
The new General Manager in Imperial Hotel, Peter has identified issue related to “a negative
work culture amongst the staff with high levels of sick leave and poor attendance”. The
following management theories can help to evaluate the issue in more detail.
Kotter’s change management theory
According to this theory, the change is brought in the organizational context through eight
systematic stages, which are as follows:

Increasing urgency – It is important to create a sense of urgency among the employees in
Imperial Hotel for motivating them towards the change in organizational culture.
Build the team – In order to ensure maximum success for any work, it is important to build team
including right people through selecting a mix skills, knowledge and commitment.
Get the vision correct – Prior implementing change, the leader must create vision upon
considering strategy, objectives and creativity, for achieving success.
Communicate – Upon setting vision and objectives, communicating these with all the
employees is highly crucial, lack of which was a key drawback of the Imperial Hotel’s existing
culture (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Empower action – In order to gain support of employees in regards to change, it is crucial to
empower their action, upon addressing their needs, offering enough support, removing
roadblocks and implementing feedback in constructive way.
Focus on short term goal – Diving the ultimate goal in short term and easily achievable
objectives would promote commitment of the employees, while retaining their interest on given
task.
Don’t give up – It is important to continue the entire change management process through
continuous support and management. In this context, it is crucial not to give up on it, upon
managing all the conflicts.
Incorporate change – Besides managing effective change, it is also crucial to reinforce it and
shape the workplace culture according to it.
Therefore, the GM Peter can follow these 8 steps, while implementing change in organizational
culture of Imperial Hotel.
Mashlow’s hierarchy of needs theory
As it has been revealed from the scenario that the organizational culture lacked motivation and
support for employees, the management needs to follow Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs theory for
addressing employee’s needs, which is a key way to motivate them towards organizational

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commitment. In this theory, Abraham Maslow has proposed five stages of individual needs,
which should be achieved in a step-by-step way to be motivated (Gulati et al., 2016). The
manager in Imperial Hotel must ensure that each needs of the employees have been fulfilled,
which would motivate them towards commitments and reduce turnover rate and sick leaves.
These needs are as follows:
Physiological needs
 Adequate wage and standard number of leaves
 Anti- discriminatory environment
 Work – life balance
 Managerial or leader’s support
Safety needs
 Health benefits, pension schemes
 Risk management system in the organization
 Personal protective equipments
Social needs
 Positive cultural dynamics
 Friendly and flexible environment
 Motivating leader influencing a sense of belonging
 Being informed
 Being listened in the team
Self – esteem needs
 Engaging employees in organizational consultation and decisions
 Training for skill development
 Offering feedbacks
 Appreciating and rewarding their contribution
 Appraisal, assessment and recognition

Self – actualization needs
 Offering challenging task
 Empowering them to explore creativity and talent
 Skill development through training
Leadership theory
As it has been revealed that the recent past leaders in Imperial Hotel were following authoritative
leadership and often being dictatorial, the change in organizational culture should also include
change in leadership style, which can be understood with the help of the following theories.
Trait theory – This theory depicts that the leader must have some personality, social, physical
and intellectual traits, which can differentiate them from others. These traits include “ambition
and energy, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self – confidence, intelligence and job relevant
knowledge” (Hanaysha, 2016). It indicates that the general manager needs to embrace these
skills to motivate the fellows in Imperial Hotel.
Behavioral theory – For the growth and development of the business, it is essential for the
management to focus on the behavior attributes. In contrast to trait theory, the behavioral theory
has demonstrated that leadership is defined through what the leaders are doing and it is the result
of effective role behavior. This theory states that leaders are different from others through their
behavior. Based on this theory, different leadership styles have been derived including
autocratic, democratic, transformational, transactional and laiseez faire (Doppelt, 2017). In this
context, the previous leaders and managers in Imperial Hotel has followed the autocratic
leadership. Through change management, the new leaders should follow democratic leadership,
which enables leader to engage employees in organizational decision making; and
transformational leadership, which promote change implementation.
Contingency theory – This theory, unlike the previous two, focuses on environment where
leaders are working. This theory indicates that leadership behavior cannot be specified, rather
they work according to the context and situation they are going through.
Analysis of the problem within the case demonstrating understanding of processes and
procedures for effective management

The new General Manager of Imperial Hotel has revealed that some key issues are hindering the
overall organizational performance. In this context, for the current assignment, the key focus is
upon “a negative work culture amongst the staff with high levels of sick leave and poor
attendance”. The organization identified that the work culture in the hotel is performance driven
and the espoused values of the organizational chain is dependent upon excellence in customer
service, which indicates that performance is related to the outcomes of Guest Satisfaction
Surveys (GSS). It is essential to focus much on the work life balance. The previous general
manager followed a toxic work culture, with long working hours. There are several female staffs,
who often become unable to balance family and job commitments. The level of staff supervision
is minimal, due to high turnover of supervisory staffs. As a result, the number of sick leaves and
turnover rate is increasing. The management style was authoritarian and often dictatorial with
little involvement of lower level staffs. The overall scenario is indicating a negative work
culture. In order to improve the business operations, it is essential to focus much on the
organizational culture. Through this the company can easily motivate the employees in the right
way.
In order to gain competitive advantage in the market, it is essential to deliver best quality
services to the customers. As a result of the above mentioned scenario in the hotel, the
organization is significantly having reduced guest satisfaction, which is currently having 65%
rate along with reduced profit level, which is also significantly lower than the others hotels under
Star Hotels chain. The customers are arguing that the London Hotels are expensive and offering
poor value for money with worse service compared to hotels in Scotland.
The key reasons for issues raised in the organization are as follows:
 Authoritarian and dictatorial management style
 Minimal level of supervision
 Lack of motivation
 High work pressure
 Lack of work life balance
 Lack of reward and recognition
 Lack appreciation for work

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Therefore, it is important for the organization to ensure effective management procedures for
changing the organizational situation. An immediate change is needed in the organizational
culture, promoting motivation and appropriate leadership (Hayes, 2018). For implementing
change in the organization, change in leadership and management styles need to be followed. As
transformational leadership facilitates change in organization, it should be followed by the
leaders; whereas for empowering lower level employees, democratic management style should
be followed by Peter.
Summary and justification of key proposals for resolution of the problem in the organization
Reviewing the issue, the General Manager of Imperial Hotel Peter Farnsworth has offered the
following proposals for resolving the issue, which are considerably useful for the current
situation.
Improve the standard and levels of supervision within all departments – It is much essential
for the management to shed much light on the business supervision. For any business
organization it is essential to focus much on the service level. Due to lack of supervision, it has
been revealed from the scenario that staffs often come late at work, get sick leave on short
notice, which enhance burden on remaining staffs, hindering work –life balance and reducing
overall performance (Van der Voet, 2014). Thus, recruiting new supervision staffs for enhancing
level of supervision is a good option to solve the issue.
Improve a culture of collaboration and respect amongst colleagues – It is essential for the
management to focus much on the organizational culture. A negative culture was established in
the organization, which diminished the scope for developing collaborative and interpersonal
skills of employees, which needs to be eliminated through establishment of positive and
collaborative work culture. Therefore, it is relevant solution.
Get staff regularly involved in planning and problem-solving operational challenges –
Through replacing authoritarian and dictatorial management with democratic management would
allow the leaders and managers to engage staffs in organizational activities, thereby motivating
them.

Reward good customer service and good attendance – Rewarding employees is the key way
to motivate them and enhance their interest towards organizational commitment. Thus, this
solution is also justified.
Better training of staff of company-wide standards and values – The scenario in Imperial
Hotel is indicating a significant inefficiency in the staff’s performance, for which in –depth and
supportive training is highly crucial (Carnall, 2018).
Some alternative ways through which the issues can be resolved are as follows:
 Change in management style of the managers, from authoritarian and dictatorial style to
democratic management style and transformational leadership style
 Arranging games and other entertaining activities every week, to keep employees
motivated and grow their interest towards the organizational environment
Conclusion
In this current assignment the emphasis is upon the case scenario of Imperial Hotel in regards to
the negative work culture in the organization, leading to poor attendance and high levels of sick
leave. In this context, it has been revealed that the issue is mainly raising the need for cultural
change in the organization, which needs employee and management support. Some key theories
in this regards have been demonstrated here, followed by analysis of the issue with effective
management ways. Finally, the resolutions proposed by the new general manager have also been
analyzed with some key alternatives for the issue.

Reference List
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
Carnall, C., 2018. Managing change. Routledge.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Gulati, R., Mayo, A.J. and Nohria, N., 2016. Management: An integrated approach. Cengage
Learning
Hanaysha, J., 2016. Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and employee
training on organizational commitment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 229, pp.298-
306.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management.
Van der Voet, J., 2014. The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public
organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure. European
Management Journal, 32(3), pp.373-382.

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Appendix
Student Name/No:
Group/Seminar Tutor:
Date of submission:
Problem No:
Please state which one of the 6 problems you are addressing
Issue 3: “A negative work culture amongst the staff with high levels of sick leave and poor
attendance”.
 What do you consider the core reasons forthis specific problem at the hotel?
Briefly comment (around 50-100 words)
The key reasons for the issue identified in Imperial Hotel, London are as follows:
 Authoritarian and dictatorial management style
 Minimal level of supervision
 Lack of motivation
 High work pressure
 Lack of work life balance
 Lack of reward and recognition
 Lack appreciation for work

 Briefly identify how your specific problem may be linked to any other of the 5
remaining problems identified in the hotel case(Confer with your team members who
investigating the other listed problems)
Briefly comment (around 50-100 words)
 Due to lack of commitment of employees, poor services are provided to guests, making
them unsatisfied
 Lack of motivation and negative work culture is the key reason for high staff turnover
 Negative work culture is indicating that previous leaders were inefficient and unable to
shape fellow’s behaviour towards organizational commitment
 Negative work culture is also indicating lack of teamwork and collaboration among staffs
 Poor commitment and poor performance of staffs are indicating that they are not meeting
service standards
 How useful do you consider the suggested actions are proposed by Peter Farnsworth
to resolve your specific problem?
Briefly comment (around 50-100 words)
The suggested actions proposed by Peter Farnsworth are highly useful for mitigating the
identified problem in Imperial Hotel because, he have highlighted the need for training and
collaboration enhancement. He has also highlighted the need for supervision, communication
and rewarding staffs, for motivating them, which could enhance the staff’s commitment.

 Consider two alternative ways that this specific problem could be resolved which
have not as yet been considered.
Briefly comment (around 50-100 words)
 Change in management style of the managers, from authoritarian and dictatorial style to
democratic management style and transformational leadership style
 Arranging games and other entertaining activities every week, to keep employees
motivated and grow their interest towards the organizational environment