People Issues in The Boundary Hotel. Boundary in all has 95 staff which comprises of kitchen, housekeeping, front of house staff and back office. Hierarchy is simple as this is the boutique property it does not have complicated organization structure.
People issues The Boundary hotel - Mr Abhishek R Patil
People Issues in
The Boundary Hotel.
Introduction:
A late Victorian warehouse converted into exclusive five star boutique hotel, situated in shoreditch near to Liverpool street station. Boundary project comprises of three restaurant and 60 keys with 10 suites including. Lobby is sophisticated with robust interior and having modern touch to it in terms of the design of the reception, one floor down from the lobby is where the rustic French cuisine is served in fine dining atmosphere. To the left of the lobby is the Albion café and shop where you can enjoy the view of display kitchen while having traditional British cuisine.
As you go through the floors to the terrace of the hotel is where you will find the rooms designed to reflect style of abstract by the renowned designer and on the last floor is where luxury, status and comfort plays its part where 10 suites are situated, each suite is designed by an individual designer, but one of the suite is most expensive as it is designed by Sir David Tang which include Chinese artifacts.
On terrace of the hotel is rooftop grill and bar where you can enjoy 360 degree view of the east London while still having exotic Mediterranean cuisine.
Boundary in all has 95 staff which comprises of kitchen, housekeeping, front of house staff and back office.
Hierarchy is simple as this is the boutique property it does not have complicated organization structure.
According to boundary handbook (2010/11).
1) People issues in The Boundary hotel which could be shown through business performance check.
Key findings:
As mentioned above in the business performance check we can clearly see that issues arising through staff are one which are affecting the performance of the business, some of the problems include staff turnover which is 58%, lack of training and development programme, lack of staff facilities which affecting the guest directly as the staff is de-motivated even if he has skills he is not going to perform to his ability and major problem is the management which lacks in leadership qualities and the way to handle employees. Discrimination and unfair practice of rewards has brought ...
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Key findings:
As mentioned above in the business performance check we can clearly see that issues arising through staff are one which are affecting the performance of the business, some of the problems include staff turnover which is 58%, lack of training and development programme, lack of staff facilities which affecting the guest directly as the staff is de-motivated even if he has skills he is not going to perform to his ability and major problem is the management which lacks in leadership qualities and the way to handle employees. Discrimination and unfair practice of rewards has brought differences in staff and conflict due to different culture has discouraged people to work as a team and has resulted in underperformance.
2) Theoretical analysis of people issues in BOUNDARY HOTEL
2.1) Staff recognition is very low which is affecting our business performance and productivity level.
Motivation theory:
it has been divided into two main approaches content theories and process theories further this theory are sub divided into needs theory, expectancy theory, equity theory and procedural theory, out of which need theory and goal setting theory could be used in solving the above mentioned problem.
According to Maslow.A( 1943 ) human needs are never satisfied, human are motivated when there needs are satisfied and needs has been classified by Maslow into a pyramid shaped as follows.
Diagram taken from (www.abraham-maslow.com).
But some of the problem faced by this model is that all the need s are required by the individuals and in practical life in an organization it is quite difficult to meet all the needs as it is not possible to satisfy all the stages of needs, but could be improvise by giving priority to needs and implementing them.
Key Findings:
As from the above theory stated by Maslow it can be clearly seen that most of needs in our organization are not fulfilled because of which our staff is not motivated which is affecting hotel business, one of the problem can be related is staff acknowledgement as it is very low if we refer back to the business performance check where the average rating is 4 which clearly indicates that most of the staff are not recognized for there contribution towards work and don’t receive fair rewards in terms of bonuses and increment. It is recommended that staff should be acknowledged from time to
Time for there regular inputs and it should be done by the manager in personal which will feel special to them and more valuable in the organization and it has been proved by the Hawthorne effect (1927-1932) that attention=productivity.
2.2) High Staff turnover which has led to inconsistent service standard and lack of team work.
According to the article published in big hospitality web site which says that staff turnover can be reduce by motivation and training therefore by using Adams equity theory we may try to resolve problem.
According to Adams (1965) he suggested that give and take in an organization should be done at equal level such as efforts = rewards which also means inputs=outputs, which means that employee should get reward according to his hard work and sincerity he is putting into his job.
As below is the Adams equity model which clearly shows the why there is high staff turnover in Boundary hotel as if now.
Diagram taken from( www.mftrou.com).
Key findings:
As from the above Adams equity model as illustrated in the context to boundary hotel it showing that even if the employees are giving 100% inputs but the output is not equal to it which is a danger sign for the organization in terms of retention of employees and because of which they are facing problem of high staff turnover so it is recommended that managers should introduced timely reward programme where a employee is being rewarded for his work and effort, it can be pay and bonuses or perks or any other benefits which will fulfill employee needs by giving such acknowledgement to the employee he will feel special and more effort would put into the work and this would result in healthy and suitable working condition for every staff.
2.3) Lack of team leader and employees feel pressure to work under management system which has resulted in lack of team work
According to 3 approaches of leadership contingency or situational leadership would be suitable for boundary hotel to solve the problem regarding team work and lack of leadership qualities.
The main purpose of the contingency approach is to provide the leader with a particular leadership style which suits best to the situation. It is best explained by Hersey-Blanchard’s situational mode(1970).
Diagram taken from (www.12manage.com)
Key findings:
As from the above model which is given by Hersey and Blanchard which clearly shows that if maturity level is low the employee needs more telling (coaching) and if the maturity is high they need to be delegated well. This concept is lacking in our organization where the employee lacks training from the manager and because of which more coaching is needed but first of all management system needs to be changed where the power distance between the manager and employee should reduced and employee should not feel pressure in working with senior managers this could be done by the programme “train the trainer” which means that managers receive training from the top management where how to retain staff and full their needs. We can also implement training and development programme for the staff where before employing on the job he would receive in-depth training from the human resource department and which would be continued by the on job training and would also be reviewed on quarterly basis. This theory also states that it should be two way relationship between employer and employee where both of them have to cooperate for there mutual benefits and success of the organization this could be done through staff meeting on monthly basis where staff can contribute to the meeting with the way of improvement as they are the one who are more interacting with the guest and taking feedback as how the current situation could be improved, by implementing this idea employee/ staff would feel special as they are being part of the organization and would help build their own morale.
2.4) cultural conflict which has resulted in lack of team work
According to Tuckman and Belbin’s (1965), they suggest that people such interact in such a manner that one should be influenced by other person and by forming the group it would also eradicate cultural difference and fights among team member which is affecting the consumer.
Stages which include to improve group performance are:
- Forming: This is stage in which leader must be able to answer lots of question and form a group.
- Storming: Goal should be clear so that teams are not diverted because of personal and emotional issues.
- Norming: every one agrees to the decision made by the leader in order to perform a particular task.
- Performing: team just need delegation of work as they are already in the position in order to perform the task.
Key findings:
All the four stages discussed above are similar to the four stages in situational leadership respectively so by implementing both of them in relation to each other it could help organization in resolving staff problems.
It could be improve by forming social networking group where employee would interact outside work about their social life which would bring them closer to each other and will also benefit the organization. Organizing staff picnic or staff party where everybody would interact with each other and would be able to enjoy as a group.
According to Handy who suggest that there are four cultures power, role, task and people which could be relate to the four stages given by Tuckman and Belbin. Handy says that organization is based on his four cultures and would vary according to the external demands and constraints of organization.
For eg manager should be more free to answer the question of the employee and because of which power distance between them would decrease and more team bonding would form. Every staff member would be rewarded on the basis of his or her performance would not be biased towards anyone these would help in avoiding differences which are later related to culture and could harm team work. For e.g. manager should implement promotional programme where if a waiter sells number of champagne glasses he or she would receive a free dinner coupon of a dining restaurant or if a chef is constantly performing very well he receive couple of movies tickets these way it would also enable them to perform and exceed their limits.
2.5) lack of training and development programme low success in recruitment and selection and lack of staff facilities which have resulted in poor customer service and poor individual skills.
According to Miller (1989), SHRM deals with those decision and actions, which concern the management of employees at all, levels in the business and which are directed towards creating and sustaining competitive advantage and the definition clearly says that if employee is not motivated he wont perform which would take of the competitive advantage from the company and would effect the growth of the company.
And also according to Guest(1989) model of HRM which says that a set of integrated HRM practices can achieve superior individual and organizational performance which could be related to recruitment and development programme as this is the first stage where employee is judged on the basis of previous experience and then taken decision whether to employee or not. It is recommended that manager should take into account three major steps which would be implemented in boundary hotel they are:
- Identify and define the job requirements
- Attract potential employees which involve advertising, internal transfer or posting ad in recruitment agency.
- Selecting right candidate for right position and this is the continuous process as employee leave, sacked or retire.
After recruitment manager in boundary hotel should follow appraisal performance check which should be done on quarterly basis where boss meets each team member individually in a relaxed manner and discuss about his or her performance and what measure need to be taken to improve or maintain the performance and it should be a two way check where manager will also be judged on his performance by 360 degree feedback this can be done through subordinates, peers, senior manager or customers.
Manager with help of general manager should also try to implement staff facilities such as locker rooms and cafeteria. it would help staff as they would feel that they are care in the organization and it would benefit organization in positive manner as well if staff get the place where they all can meet and have food together it will also help in bringing people closer and help fight with cultural conflict and by making a social networking group of the organization where all can communicate outside working hours will also bring people closer and interact with each other.
Training and development:
It is another area where our organization lacks a lot and need to improve on it because of lack of training staff has poor skills to perform a particular job and result in low morale in staff and de- motivated as they cannot perform a task so It is recommended that staff should be given training with the help of D&D group where all the employee would receive training before joining the job which would increased productivity, improved levels of skills, increase in efficiency and which will result in business growth.
According to DfES(1997) report it clearly states that training and development has resulted in increased retention of staff and motivated them towards work and be loyal towards there employer.
So I would recommend that training and development should be given the most importance as it is the foundation for the success of the organization.
(Caterer magazine)
3) Evaluation and control
Key findings
From above we can illustrate that by implementing the schedule and by whom it would be done and when would be monitored it benefit in positive way and would be useful in maintaining the business performance high as staff facilities does not need any time frame but need to be implemented and training would be done by department manager which would be monitored monthly by hr manager and food safety programme is the same as well whereas management training programme goes it will be done senior management where manager will be given training in how to deal with their staff and other necessary thing which would be monitored by general manger, quarterly.
Bibliography
Books
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uk: maurice bassett. p 50-60.
- Berkowitz.L (1976). Advances in experimental social psychology.
9th ed. london: Academic press inc. p 2-7.
- Lunenburg.F, Ornstein.A (2008). Educational Administration: concepts, definition.
5th ed. usa: Thomas higher education. p143-147.
- Enciso.R (2008). Cooplexity: A model of collaboration in complexity for management in times .
lulu. p 46- 48.
- Beardwell.J, Claydon.T (2007). Human resource management: a contemporary approach.
5th ed. UK: Pearson publication ltd. p59-61.
Websites and journals
- Maslow.A. (2005). abraham maslow theory. Available: http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Humanistic_Psychology.asp. Last accessed 22nd October 2010.
- lyndsay.S. (2006). adams equity theory. Available: http://www.mftrou.com/adams-equity-motivation-theory.html. Last accessed 24th october 2010.
- Hersey and Blanchard . (1968). hersey and blanchard theory. Available: http://www.12manage.com/methods_blanchard_situational_leadership.html. Last accessed 25th october 2010.
- Paskin.B. (2010). Reduce staff turnover through motivation and training.