Analysis of Leadership and Management Issues at The Imperial Hotel

This report analyzes the management and leadership failures at The Imperial Hotel, a four-star establishment facing significant challenges. The core issue revolves around the poor leadership and monitoring skills of the former General Manager, which led to high staff turnover, low guest satisfaction, and a negative work culture. The report applies management theories, particularly Contingency theory, to understand the problems. It examines the consequences of the manager's actions, including the decline in sales and the hotel's poor market rating. The report also highlights the importance of developing leadership skills, fostering employee collaboration, and implementing incentives to improve the hotel's performance. The analysis concludes that the hotel's decline was directly attributable to poor leadership and a lack of effective management strategies, emphasizing the need for proactive decision-making and employee engagement.

INTRODUCTION
TO
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM........................................................................................................1
Management theory for the problem specified...........................................................................1
Analysis of the problem..............................................................................................................2
Summarize and Justification.......................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A London based hotel, The Imperial Hotel is owned by a well known chain of international
hotels which is considered as a 4 star hotel. The problem started when there came a huge turnover
in staff in all the departments because of the poor confidence of the staff. That time, this famous
hotel, which comes under international chain of hotels graded the most lowest in the market. The
problem could be controlled also but it goes on increasing because of unsuccessful leadership of the
previous management staff which included poor monitoring and poor procedures for control. If the
management would be responsible enough, they would have keep an eye on the staff which further
does not lead to this huge problem (Mellahi and Budhwar., 2010:685). It has been rated the lowest
in the market just because of poor confidence of staff. There were many problems going on in the
hotel at that time which includes that guest were not at all satisfied, there came a high staff turnover,
the work culture there was negative, leadership was poor etc. The main issue here we are discussing
about is how poor monitoring and ineffective leadership skills by previous General Manager
affected the condition of the hotel and changed it from top to the bottom. This report is about
discussing the problems caused by poor leadership and management by previous General Manager,
due to which the condition of The Imperial Hotel worsened.
ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM
Management theory for the problem specified
Management theories in any organisation culture helps in enlarging the productivity and
service of the organisation. Some very popular management theories are Contingency, systems,
chaos, theory X and theory Y. Contingency theory can improve the problem specified here i.e. the
worsened condition of hotel because of ex General Manager's poor leadership and monitoring
qualities. Often, they use a number of solutions which are a combination of all these theories and
these actually rely on the organisation workplace, problem and purpose. Contingency theory says
that the authorities must take decision at that time only when complications start growing because
that is the best time to take decisions. One should not delay it. Systems theory says that different
systems have different impact on the workers and so do workers effect on the environment around
them. Chaos theory says change is a necessary and so is constant.
Some events in a workplace can be controlled but some cannot. This theory refers to
changes as things which can't be controlled. When an organisation grows, possibility for new
challenges evolve as well as the complexities also. When more complexities occur, the company
make it like that way only (Mobley, Griffeth,and Meglino,1979:493). Sometimes e.g. more space
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and structure comes as a need in a company for some reasons and it can't be controlled because if it
will be, it will result in loss of the company. There is another theory -Theory X and Theory Y which
says that the atmosphere in a workplace culture depends much on employees behaviour and
attitude. The managers who think their employees lack in motivation and dedication and needs
incentives for better productivity, these are referred for theory X management style. In theory Y,
workers encourage the leaders achievements.
As here the problem is in The Imperial Hotel, ex General Manager left the hotel in an
undesired situation just because he was unable to control the procedures and monitor the staff there.
He was lacking skills in his leadership qualities and monitoring the staff (Ongori, 2007). If it could
ever be improved, then may be the situation can be controlled or it would be far better than now. If
it would not have been done, the hotel would be in a great situation. The manager lack leadership
skills as he was not capable of controlling the employees and the rest of the staff. The problem is
about it so, applying Contingency theory will be a good idea.
Analysis of the problem
All these problems started when the previous General Manager left the hotel in a poor
position which further invited many other problems as there was a high turnover in the staff, sales
was going low and the most important, guests were not at all satisfied with the hotel's condition and
services. There came a huge turnover in staff, so a few members would have to handle the hotel and
it was quite tough to manage the whole hotel by two or three members. This disappointed
customers the most as they had to wait until the worker is free. Rather than leaving the company in
such situation, he would have developed some more leadership skills so that he will be able to
control the staff and the ongoing tasks. By this way, he could also have monitored what is
happening in the hotel but as he was lacking these skills, he left the hotel instead of improving it
(Ghoshal, 2005:75). Then the situations gone more worse and lead to many other problems. They
could have developed incentivise support management in which it is to give the staff workers some
incentives so that they will be more excited for the completion of work. This way it can attract
many of the customers and increase their will to work more efficiently.
Contingency theory applies best here. It means the higher authorities to take instant
decisions by not delaying it. Current situation can help taking effective decisions. So, it is good to
take decisions instantly when any problem occurs. This theory even claims itself as the best way to
develop, lead and take decisions for a company. It is actually an organisational theory which helps
the managers or other higher authorities to develop some skills that are very important in a
workplace as by developing the quality that whenever a problem comes, try to manage it that time
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only and that time will be perfect to take any decision because it is recent (Nahavandi, 2016). In the
Imperial hotel also, if the General manager would have taken some decision at that time only, may
be the situation was not this much worsened but the manager left the company in such a situation. If
these things were considered that time only, the hotel would have not rated the lowest. In fact, it
would have improved much from that time. The hotel would have also set some increments or
incentives for the workers because they play an important role in a workplace. They keep the
workers motivated and confident about themselves which further benefits them as well as the
company.
Summarize and Justification
The ex General Manager left the company in a very poor position as there had been a huge
turnover in staff, the value of sales were gone very low and the guests were so disappointed with
the management of the hotel. The new General Manager was appointed at that time when the hotel
was already in a huge loss (Wilkinson,Wood and Demirbag, 2014:835). He then started the
procedure of recruiting new, talented and efficient workers who can help in improving the condition
of the company and those who will not leave the company at time of obstacles and problems
because problems are a part of work culture. Like there is a happy culture in a workplace,
sometimes problems do come but the responsibility of an employee is not to leave the company at
that time but to help in facing the obstacles together. Before, all the employees are being shuffled
from one department to another but it resulted bad because person from one department obviously
does not knows the work of the other department. So, shuffling of employees irrespective of their
interest does not seem to be a good idea.
Every person who is experienced in a particular field can do better in that field than anyone
other. Previously, the manager lack leadership skills which is a very bad quality of a leader.
Leadership skills can also be developed by referring some books and journals on it (Hinkin and
Tracey2009:144). A very famous book The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry
Z. Posner describes some of the roles that are very important in leadership skills. Actually the
discussion of trust, ethics and credibility is discussed in whole book which shows a path towards
effective leadership. There was less compatibility between the employees and staff of the hotel
which is also a factor that there was no coordination and lack of communication and coordination
lead to some causes that directly affected the situation of the hotel. Some increments and incentives
should also be there so that the workers of the hotel consider the fact that their work is being
appreciated and then they will stay more focused towards their work.
They may also develop cross department collaboration in which there are a group of people
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who are expertise in a particular functional field but the motive of their all is the same or their
targets are similar (Ghoshal,2015:75). There are some ways by which The Imperial Hotel can
develop cross departmental collaboration which include the ways to communicate with different
personalities, handling obstacles in critical situations, giving priorities to the complicated deadlines,
can be able to convert financial information in non financial information. Interacting with all people
in the workplace helps in developing confidence and a happy culture where every one can work by
a free mind and if sometimes stress comes, they all can handle it together. To fight with the barriers,
only collaboration is not enough, it is very important to take down the barriers between the
companions. There are a range of different personalities in a workplace (Basadur,2014:103). So
does in The Imperial Hotel, if they would have been having good communication with each other,
may be the situation has not worsened this much. The workers at the hotel if have discussed about
their problems with the management, may be they could have solved the situations or there was
some improvement. If the workers were not able to communicate their problems with the
management, the manager could be responsible enough as he also could also notice something
wrong but he left the hotel in this position. It encouraged the problems more because there was no
one to look upon it. Then the problems started raising and invited other more problems also (Hinkin
and Tracey,2009:144). The guests were not at all satisfied with the management of hotel as there
was very less staff left in the hotel that they were not able to attend their customers properly.
CONCLUSION
The report is on analysis of the specified problem and from the report, it can be concluded
that The Imperial Hotel came to a worsened state because of some poor skills of the ex General
Manager who ignored his leadership and duties towards the workers of the hotel which lead to a
huge number of problems like guests were very disappointed with the management of the hotel,
there came a huge turnover in the staff of the hotel which actually become the main reason for
guest's disappointment. Their disappointed was also genuine by the fact that there was a very less
number of people left in the hotel and so they can't be able to provide the service well to the
customers. That time, there was requirement of a group of people or staff who can help in
controlling the situation of the hotel, thus by resulting in gaining confidence of people again
because it has lost almost of their customers. Then, the management came into hands of Peter
Farnsworth, who in search of talented workers, recruited a lot of persons so that the condition of the
hotel can be improved a bit. The appointment of new staff took place. There should be some
modifications in a workplace for a change in regular routine like incentives or increments should be
given to the employees so that they can be happy about the fact that their work is being considered
and people are appreciating it.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Nahavandi, A., 2016. The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson.
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.
Jelasity, M., Babaoglu, O. and Laddaga, R., 2006. Guest editors' introduction: Self-management
through self-organization. IEEE Intelligent Systems. 21(2). pp.8-9.
Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H., 2012. Making sense of management: A critical introduction. Sage.
Adair, J. E., 2007. Develop your leadership skills (Vol. 11). Kogan Page Publishers.
Griffeth, R. W., Hom, P. W. and Gaertner, S., 2000. A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of
employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium.
Journal of management. 26(3). pp.463-488.
Basadur, M., 2014. Leading others to think innovatively together: Creative leadership. The
Leadership Quarterly. 15(1). pp.103-121.
Mobley, W.H., Griffeth, R.W., Hand, H.H. and Meglino, B.M., 1979. Review and conceptual
analysis of the employee turnover process. Psychological bulletin. 86(3). p.493.
Ghoshal, S., 2015. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy
of Management learning & education. 4(1). pp.75-91.
Iverson, R.D. and Deery, M., 1997. Turnover culture in the hospitality industry. Human Resource
Management Journal. 7(4). pp.71-82.
Hinkin, T.R. and Tracey, J.B., 2009. The cost of turnover: Putting a price on the learning curve. The
Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. 41(3). pp.144-21.
Ongori, H., 2007. A review of the literature on employee turnover.
Online
Ongori, H., 2007. A Review Of The Literature On Employee Turnover. [Pdf]. Available
through :<http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1380537420_Ongori.pdf>.
[Accessed on 7th July 2017].
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