Managing Change in the Hospitality Industry: Verdant Leisure

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UNDERSTANDING AND LEADING CHANGE
VERDANT LEISURE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................2
COMPANY OVERVIEW..............................................................................................................3
TASK 1: MANAGING THE IMPACT OF CHANGE.........................................................................4
PART A: RESPONDING TO CHANGE......................................................................................4
Comparing how organizations have responded to the drivers for change considering
similarities and differences in the approach of each organization...................................4
Assessment of the different drivers for change in the above examples and identification
of the types of change......................................................................................................6
PART B: THE IMPACT OF CHANGE........................................................................................7
The ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and
individual behaviours within an organization...................................................................7
Measures to minimize the negative impact of change on organizational behaviour.......9
TASK 2: LEADERSHIP DECISION MAKING................................................................................14
Barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision-making in Verdant
leisure.............................................................................................................................14
Force field analysis......................................................................................................... 15
TASK 3: LEADING CHANGE (PPT)............................................................................................16
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 28
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 29
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INTRODUCTION
Changes are the inseparable and very common phenomenon in any business industry. It
could have both positive as well as the negative impact on the organization depending on
the organization’s abilities and efficiencies to deal with changes. This assignment report is
prepared to gain knowledge about how the changes can be successfully embraced in
business and utilized for its prosperity. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of
changes and successfully leading it, the key aspects of change management are analyzed in
this report. In the context of Verdant leisure, a medium-sized organization (Schutte, 2018),
the different drivers of change are analyzed and compared to by analysing the real-world
examples to understand how other organizations handle changes. The impact of changes in
leadership behaviour, individual and team behaviour are analyzed along with applying
different theories to successfully handle change. Moreover, the driving and resisting forces
to changes are also identified by applying force field analysis. At last, the different
leadership styles and theories are discussed to support leaders of verdant leisure to
successfully implement changes within the company.
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COMPANY OVERVIEW
Verdant leisure is a bespoke holiday park operator that offers self-catering holidays and
holiday home ownership across Scotland and north areas of England like Durham and
Northumberland. The company offers a wider range of holiday options in every budget. The
company was launched by Bev Dixon, Graham Hodgson and Andrew Wall in 2010. Over the
last two years, the company has invested over £6 million in its portfolio and its turnover is
estimated to be £31 million during last year (Verdant Leisure, 2019). It has impressively
maintained a low customer service complaint ratio.
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TASK 1: MANAGING THE IMPACT OF CHANGE
INTRODUCTION
Verdant Leisure is a rapidly growing company in the hospitality industry. With the recent
developments and changes in the tourism and hospitality industry the company is facing
several challenges and in order to deal with these changes, it needs to improve the
company process and system. During this phase, it is important for the company to
effectively manage and motivate its employees to successfully deal with the changes.
Therefore, this report is prepared to analyse how other businesses have successfully
managed the changes and at what extent and organization can be impacted by changes.
PART A: RESPONDING TO CHANGE
Comparing how organizations have responded to the drivers for change
considering similarities and differences in the approach of each organization
In the business environment, especially in the travel and tourism business, an organization
has to adapt to the changing needs of its customers to sustain in the competitive
marketplace. A company should be willing to adjust and positively respond to the changes in
the business scenario. The big factors that create changes are technology, competition,
changes in social values and perceptions and stakeholder’s expectations in the given
industry (Mitchell, 2013). In order to successfully respond to the changes, verdant leisure
should make appropriate planning by understanding the key drivers and ways to respond to
the changes.
To support the effective change management in the company, the change management
process and drivers of changes in the large travel and hospitality organizations like TUI and
Marriott hotels are analyzed and compared below. Both the companies are successfully
operating in the industry for years with accepting and embracing changes.
CHANGE IN TUI
TUIO has embraced many changes to continuously improving and increasing business
profitability and productivity. TUI has adapted the flexible working policy to meet the needs
of its employees. In order to build the positive work environment and comply with the
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changing needs of the employees, the company has adopted flat hierarchy system where
the managers work alongside the staff members in an open space to be easily accessible and
approachable (TUI Group, 2018). This has accelerated decision making in the company. The
digital tools and techniques enable the employees to organize themselves and cooperate
with the colleagues even outside the official borders. TUI has emphasized on a radical
change to engage its employees. To successfully embrace the change process within the
company, the company considers the concerns and opinions of its employees to include
them. The company I focusing on reducing its operating cost by 15% through renovating and
modernizing its premises by building a paperless office. These changes can be measured by
the fact that the printing cost at the hotel is reduced by 53% and the cost of office material
is reduced by 70% (TUI Group, 2018).
CHANGES IN MARRIOTT
Since its foundation, Marriott has made innovative changes to adapt to the changing needs
of the customers. From root beer in summer to hot shoppes in the winter season, Marriott
has embraced several changes. With the increasing trend of travelling, the company has
developed a courtyard brand to meet traveller's needs. Moving on, it has created an
autograph collection and further invested in virtual reality technology for guests. Embracing
change is one of the core values of Marriott (Schawabel, D., 2013). During its growth and
several obstacles, the company has followed the single mantra of ‘taking care of employees
and employees will take good care of customers’ that has to lead the business to higher
success.
Recently, by identifying the changing social and environmental needs, the company has
introduced new 2025 sustainability and social impact goals to support meaningful progress
towards 17 UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to address critical challenges
faced by the communities and planet (Marriott Group, 2017). The company has made a goal
for reducing environmental footprint and achieve a minimum of 30% renewable energy use
by 2025.
COMPARISON BETWEEN TUI AND MARRIOTT’S APPROACH TO CHANGE
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In the above example, TUI and Marriott both have embraced changes to grow and sustain in
the market. TUI has used technology to make changes in the internal system of the
company to achieve higher profitability while Marriott is more focused on identifying
external needs and requirements of the customers and society to comply with their
changing needs and make necessary changes within the company. For the TUI, the key
driver of change is developing productivity and profitability and for Marriott, the key driver
is to comply with the changing needs and requirements of its stakeholders.
Assessment of the different drivers for change in the above examples and
identification of the types of change
By analysing the changes in the TUI and Marriott hotel, it can be easily stated that the
change in the business strategies and products and operations are often the outcome of
different drivers. In TUI, the key driver to change is to increase the internal capabilities of
the company. For increasing the internal capabilities of the company, TUI has focused on
using advanced technology to increase the productivity of its employees along with
strengthening the company's profitability. The company has combined technology and
modern management theory to provide a positive and flexible working environment to the
employees as well as saving cost of production through reducing waste. This has also
supported the company in developing sustainable process and operations.
While in the case of Marriott; the key driver to change is to meet the requirements of the
customers and the wider environment. The company has set sustainable goals and makes
changes in business activities by developing specific goals to meet the requirements of the
wider environment. The changes in the TUI and Marriott can be easily categorized by
understanding the key types of changes;
 Organization-wide change: these are large-scale transformations that lead to
changes in the overall organization structure and involves restricting or resizing.
 Transformational: it involves a fundamental shift in the company’s operations and
requires huge cost and time to implement (Hayes, 2018).
 Unplanned change: these are prompt changes that are often resulting due to
uncertain conditions such as economic uncertainties and change in regulations.
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 Remedial change: such changes are implemented to respond to the decreasing
performance and productivity of the company. Personnel change: it involves changes in the HR planning and policies of the
company (Hayes, 2018).
The changes in the TUI and Marriott both can be considered as a transformational change.
As both organizations are trying to comply with the changing needs of the environment by
making a fundamental shift in the company.
PART B: THE IMPACT OF CHANGE
The ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team
and individual behaviours within an organization
Changes, irrespective of drivers or types, can have both positive as well as a negative impact
on an organization. Change is a constant feature of business and every business organization
needs to change at one point or another in structure, technology or personnel or products
(Frankland, et al., 2013). The different components of an organization are affected by the
changes, the employees are the major factors that hare directly affected by the changes and
to with the psychology of the employees is one of the toughest tasks for the company.
Resistance to change among the employees is a common phenomenon in an organization.
Therefore, the managers and leaders need to make strategic decisions to deal with the
impact of change on the behaviour of employees (Cameron and Green, 2015). The leaders
and managers can formulate effective strategies by identifying the internal and external
drivers of change to effectively manage the team and individual behaviour at verdant
leisure.
The external drivers of change for verdant leisure company can be effectively identified by
PEST tool as this incorporates the key factors in the external environment that could lead
changes in the company;
 Political: Verdant leisure operates in one of the most powerful economies of the
world which has good political stability. However, certain political decisions are
negatively affecting the industry (Arif, and Hossin, 2016). For example, Brexit has
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caused uncertainties and political debates. The digital economy act 2010 and new
immigration policies are can affect the business of verdant leisure.
 Economic: there is great competition is presented in the tourism and hospitality
sectors in the UK. Several organizations are providing innovative and unique
products and services to the company. Tourism spending is also increased. This leads
to a change in price and process of the company.
 Social: with the changing lifestyle, the demands of customers in the tourism industry
have also changed. For instance, the number of travellers is increasing day by day as
well as people are opting for customized services (Arif, and Hossin, 2016). The
people are also emphasizing on green tourism or sustainable or responsible tourism.
 Technological: with increasing technological advancements and use of the internet
and mobile phones there has been huge incline in online sales in tourism is recorded.
For example, online location search booking packaged travel offers and innovative
products and services are in high demand in the industry.
In order to identify the internal drivers to change the SWOT analysis tool can be effectively
used. The SWOT analysis of Verdant leisure is as follow;
Strengths: Weaknesses:
Unique self-catering holiday home services
Innovativeness
Increasing growth and profitability
Drive for competitive advantage
Low customer complaints
Active technology use (Gibson, 2015)
Low customer base
Chances for improvement in process and
strategies.
Opportunities: Threat:
Technological advancements
Changing customer preferences
Increasing competition
Political uncertainties
Rapid technology change
From the above analysis, The external drivers of change could lead to fluctuation in demand,
technology obsolescent and other factors that may require to make changes in the product,
price, process and policies of the company. On the other hand, the internal drivers of
change in verdant leisure are identified as the need to grow and chances of improvement in
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productivity. The company needs to make certain changes in its business to grow in new
areas and regions.
In order to comply with the internal and external changes, the company is required to make
changes and developments in business processes and policies that may also lead to change
in leadership and individual and team behaviour within the company. For instance, the need
for growth would lead to extra workload, stress as well as the expansion of team that may
create resistance among the employees.
Measures to minimize the negative impact of change on organizational behaviour
In order to deal with the negative impact of change on the behaviour of personnel in
verdant leisure, the company can follow the appropriate measures such as;
 By providing proper guidance and direction to the employees
 By formulating training and development programs to enable employees to meet
with the requirements (Argyris, 2017)
 By developing open communication system in the company
 Building cooperation among the teams and individuals within the company
Besides the above measures, the company can also apply the different theories and models
of change management to successfully implement changes within the organization and
confront with the situation created by internal and external drivers of change to the
company.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MODEL
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FIGURE 1: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MODEL
[Source: First, et al., 2017]
The continuous improvement model emphasises on constantly working on identifying and
implementing changes in the company to avoid uncertain conditions and resistance. It
facilitates easy acceptance and implementation of changes as well as also enables to reduce
the negative impact of change among the personnel. Under this model, the upper
management works towards generating an effective solution to implement changes through
devising strategies and goals (First, et al., 2017). This supports the successful
implementation of change with appropriate change management process in the company.
BURKE –LITWIN MODEL
The negative impact of change can also be reduced by following Burke –Litwin model. This
model involves several aspects to assess and implement changes successfully within the
company (Burke, 2017). The different factors of change management identified by Burke
and Litwin are;
External environment: the changes in the external environment raise the need for change in
the company. For instance, the changes in the external environment create needs for
adopting sustainable practices for Marriott.
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Organizational mission and strategy: the organizational mission and strategies must be
considered while planning for change (Burke, 2017).
Culture: in order to successfully implement the changes, it is important to develop positive
work culture.
Leadership: a proper leadership style must be followed to motivate and encourage
employees to embrace changes.
Structure: the success or failure is largely dependent on the structure of the company;
therefore a proper structure should be developed according to the nature of the business to
ensure proper flow of communication (Burke, 2017).
Management practices: management practices should be aligned with the change process
to simplify the implementation of change.
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