Managing Star Lakeside Hall Hotel - Case Study Example

Managing Organisational Change (The Lakeside Hall Hotel) Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Executive summary The Star Lakeside Hall Hotel is situated on the shores of Windermere found in the English Lake District. The hotel is owned by Michael Davis who is a local businessman in the region and who in the last five years has been General Manager of the hotel. Despite the fact that the company has achieved major successes in the last five years, the hotel has had different problems in the recent past which need to be managed or else the hotels enters into a serious crisis. Some of the problems that have warranted for organizational change include lack of performance measurement tools and continuous improvement, decline in service standards as expressed by the customers as well as cleanliness and imaginative set of activities alongside low quality food. After a detailed analysis of different organizational change models, it was recommended that Lewin’s Three-Step Change is the most suitable in this case. This is because it provides a three-step process through which the identified problems can be suppressed, new values, attitudes and behaviors that can be developed and sustained by internalizing them and making them stable. Table of Contents (The Lakeside Hall Hotel) 1 Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Change situation 5 2.0 Change Models 6 2.1 Lewin’s three steep model of change 7 2.1.1 Unfreezing 7 2.1.2 Moving 8 2.1.3 Refreezing 8 3.0 Company situation 9 4.0 Forces against and for change 10 4.1 Against 10 4.1.1 Power processes 11 4.1.2 HRM practices 11 4.1.3 Participation of individuals and power 12 4.2 Forces for change 12 5.0 Attaining equilibrium in change 12 6.0 SWOT analysis of the organization 13 Strengths 13 Weaknesses 13 Opportunities 14 Threats 14 7.0 Impact of proposed changes 14 8.0 Preferred model and action prioritization 15 9.0 Conclusion and recommendation 16 References 17 Riley, J 2012, Change Management: Types of Change, retrieved on 12th January 2012, available at: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/strategy/change_types.html 18 1.0 Introduction This study is geared towards presenting a full scenario of organizational change at 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel, situated at shores of Windermere in the English Lake District. This is after it had emerged that after operating for several years, the hotel was facing some very serious problems with regard to management which warranted for change. According to Lee (2008, pg 1), management of change in an organization is almost an inevitable thing in the current world of business in which circumstances have continued to change. Change therefore is taken as an initiative to help the business to counter any forces that may impact on the business negatively and also take advantage of any opportunities that may be emerging as result of changing circumstances in the business environment. To have such a focus, requires the business to be very committed and more so from the staff perspective which has a central role in implementing the suggested change. In change management according to Erstad (1997, pg. 325), empowerment is also an approach that is used by the business in undertaking change. This is used to refer to the process of creating an environment whereby the employees including the management are enabled to make certain decisions which they consider constructive and can impact positively on the business by impressively serving the customer needs. In general, change is recommendable as an approach to help the business adapt to any changing business situation both from internally and externally. In the hospitality industry for instance, change is high regarded because of the customers the businesses serve and who come from different backgrounds and also bear very different interests. 1.1 Change situation The 4-Star Lakeside Hall Hotel is situated at shores of Windermere found in the English Lake District. The hotel in particular is recognized because of its location which allows excellent viewing of the surrounding falls. The surrounding is a perfect place for hiking and sailing as well as many other luxury activities. The company is owned by Michael Davis and who has been on top of management for the last five years. However, despite the company making major strides in the past, in the recent days some serious problems have continued to cause a major worry on the sustainability of the business into the future. The company with over 100 employees at any given time is under management of two managers who are expected to oversee the activities of six departments within the establishment, is expected to manage the employees to serve the customers and go beyond their expectation. However, now according to the inspection report about the business which is a member of an accredited body, People National Quality Standard, performance measurement and continuous improvement, are among the major problems in the business. Also in the list of problems include the complaints that have irate customers on the accusations that the business operated like a brothel and that the club lacked the required ambience for class customers. Cleanliness, an un-imaginative set of activities classes and low food quality and restaurant service standards has also been identified as problems facing the hotel currently. 2.0 Change Models In the business environment, change is not a new thing since it has been there for many years. The application of any given change model in business is depended on a number of factors which include nature of business and the business environment as pointed out by Drucker as part of the challenges facing businesses today in (Riley 2012, pg. 1). According to Riley, change is constant and cannot be avoided in any way and is likened to ‘death and taxes’ and no specific change would be preferable. Among such change models that have been identified and are applied even in today’s business environment, include Incremental change and continuous change. Incremental change according to Riley entails the process of continuously keeping pace with the change in business environment both internally and externally by undertaking different initiatives that helps the business adapt to these challenges. Incremental change is characterized by piecemeal change in an organization and which takes place as part of the company’s evolution process and is particularly aimed enhancing organizational development. This change model is especially useful in those businesses that are seeking to expand and are in need to bring into practice different structures that will accommodate new business requirements. This might include employing more staff, increasing the number of managers to take charge of new emerging responsibilities from expansion. Incremental initiatives may also include the investment in technology so as to help run different programs which are likely to increase in the process of development. On the other hand, continuous change in an organization entails the process of continuously changing processes and systems within an organization so as to help the business adapt to the persistently changing environment. It is continuously change management model that many of the businesses are employing today according to Munduate (2003, pg. 1). As a matter of fact, for many of the modern organizations including Star Lakeside Hall Hotel, is how to be able to continuously adapt to the ever changing business environment. As can be noted from this model and from the past in different organizations such as Marriot, London Hotel and many more, those individuals that can be considered change agents and who exercise logic attraction tend to play a very significant role in the process of organizational change. This is because they tend to promote transformation which eventually attracts other people into the process realizing adaptation to change and permanent adjustment. Continuous change therefore is viewed as a process that starts as a result of different actions which the players enact over a given period of time. The continuous change even though small adjustments but done frequently is considered best foundation for continuous change model according to Orlikowski in (Munduate 2003, pg. 5). This introduction provides a detailed overview of the different approaches of change management that are available to the organization. 2.1 Lewin’s three steep model of change According to this change model, change is said to follow three major processes which occur over a given period time according to Lunenburg (2010, pg. 1). Lewin’s suggests that this process basically requires three processes which include unfreezing and moving as well as refreezing. 2.1.1 Unfreezing The unfreezing step actually entails the process taken by the management of an organization with the aim of trying to combat forces that may be acting or prompting an organization into its current situation. Unfreezing may be achieved by making available new information that could be used to point out the inadequacies that are there in the current business situation and that can impact negatively on values and attitudes as well as behaviors. In other hand, what stimulate unfreezing is the crises that an organization may be facing. Commonly mentioned crisis include high employee turnover, increase in customer complaints, an unexpected strike, decline in profits and many more. On the other hand, unfreezing might also come as a result of the business projections in terms of finance which may prompt necessary adjustments to eliminate the anticipated problems that may lead to a crisis. 2.1.2 Moving The moving step in Lewin’s theory entails the process of developing of new values and attitudes as well as behaviors through what can be termed as internalization and identification or rather change of organizational structure. While some changes in this step can be minor and may include very view members like in changes in recruitment and selection criteria, others can be major and may involve very many participants and example may include bring into board new evaluation systems, restructuring of existing jobs and duties performed by different staff and restructuring of different departments, or even the entire organization which may necessitate relocation of employees to different parts within an organization (Lunenburg 2010, pg. 2). This approach could be very important in the case of 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel because of the challenges that it’s facing currently. 2.1.3 Refreezing Refreezing is the last step in Lewin’s change model and it involves the process of trying to ensure that the new change is stabilized at the quasi-stationary. Some of the things that could be used to cement this include changes in company culture, staff norms, organizational policy and even organization structure (Lunenburg 2010, pg. 2). 3.0 Company situation The 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel situated at the Windermere in the English Lake District for many years has been very successful under the leadership of its owner Michael Davies. Davies has been in the top leadership for the last five years. Behind the success of the company in the last five years is attributed to the ability to maintain high quality of services and the return by customers was almost certain. It is argued that with high quality services for the customers, each one of them is likely to come to the destination at least twice each year and lodge for between 2 and 3 days. In the region, the hotel is very popular and it is known to offer diverse services to its target market which include families and couples who require relaxing place and majority of who are aged 55 years and above. Each night stay in the hotel with dinner, bed and breakfast as well, cost the customer £190. This forms important part of the company revenue with 61 percent occupancy. However, things currently are not at ease as they have been in the recent past. This kind of situation may have been warranted by a number of factors. Considering the organizational structure, a number of questions may be raised on the ratio of managers to the number of employees. While Michael plays the role of the CEO, under him are two managers who are responsible for day-to-day operational activities. While each manager is in charge of the personnel and all front activities, the other is in charge of coordinating food and beverage operations. In addition, to their respective roles, the two managers are expected to oversee the activities of six other departmental heads which include Reception Manager, Head Chef, Leisure Club Manager, Head Housekeeper, Restaurant Manager and Bars Manager. Each departmental head is responsible for all the activities within the department and also ensure that each staff is working towards enhancing the customer service and even exceed the expectations. However, despite the hotel having a comprehensive training and all employees given equal opportunity to accessing training including the managers, several problems have emerged today that are calling for the need to embark on organizational and they include: 1. Failure in performance measurements 2. Failure in continuous improvement 3. Complaints on standards which include the usage of the residential rooms 4. Lack of ambience in the in the leisure club and also decline in the cleanliness and inclusion of an un-imaginative set of activities. 5. Complaints have also been raised with regard to food quality and the standards of services in the restaurant All these issues have been identified as major problems that an organization is facing currently and that the organization is expected to undertake different changes in order to be able to deal with them and ensure long sustainability of the business. 4.0 Forces against and for change 4.1 Against In the hotel, change is expected to lift the service standards to the customers. However, there are some impediments that are likely to influence its introduction and implementation. The identified forces in the context that are likely to hinder change implementation in the hotel include: 1. Power processes 2. HRM practices 3. Participation of individuals and power 4.1.1 Power processes Power in an organization is important in influencing change. This is because it is determined by what extent individuals or teams are empowered in carrying a given task. In an organization power can be restored upon individuals who lead teams or teams themselves depending on the work or the change that the organization wants to achieve (Munduate, 2003, pg. 11). However, in the case of The 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel, what appears to be is that power is given to the managers who make major decisions who are expected decisions and which must be followed by the juniors together with the departmental heads. This can be learnt from the organizational structure in which the two managers are in charge of six departmental heads. This is an impediment because the departmental heads will not always be able to make independent decisions as they will always be influenced by their managers and therefore do not a chance to do what they know is right for their respective departments. 4.1.2 HRM practices HRM practices are an important element in organizational change. However, this is depended on the organizational context. HRM is important in ensuring that an organization has sufficient staff to deal with emerging issues and to tackle different responsibilities (Munduate, 2003, pg. 11). While the hotel seems to have a sufficient number of employees who are over 100, the problem is with the management. There is no clear policy in terms of responsibilities and duties. For instance with two managers and six departments, the HRM policy does not clearly identify which manager should be in charge of which department. This in itself causes confusion as there will always be conflicts on who should deal with what and how communication should be done (Lee 2008, pg 14-18). On the same line, this comes a challenges in harmonizing the activities of all the departments as each manager is likely to work in isolation. 4.1.3 Participation of individuals and power The gap between reality and any existing myth on how individuals should participate in organizational change is very critical. This is because it determines to what extent each and every employee is going to participate to the intended change and if power will be centralized or decentralized. If power is to be decentralized then it means each and every person has a chance to play a certain role in implementing change according to (Munduate, 2003, pg. 11). This in the case of The 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel is a major force against change implementation. This is because power is majorly concentrated on a few individuals including the managers who are in the top rank. This tends to inhibit negatively on the contribution of junior staff on what should be done. 4.2 Forces for change 1. Increase in complaints from the side of customers 2. Decline in services standards 3. Cleanliness challenges 4. Lack of performance measurement mechanisms 5. Decline in continuous improvement 6. Low quality food and restaurant services 7. Need to expand the business and also step-up the marketing campaign for the business 5.0 Attaining equilibrium in change As noted earlier in the Lewin’s theory, there are three steps to change and they include unfreezing, moving and refreezing. However, in attaining equilibrium towards change, refreezing is a very step. This is because it involves all activities that are committed to ensure stabilization of the new organizational context. Some of the things that have to be changed in order to attain organizational equilibrium include culture, the norms that the staff are used and more especially on how they are used to get instructions and communication, policy so as to affirm on what ways power should be centralized or decentralized and adjusting of the organizational structure so as to accommodate new demands (Lunenburg 2010, pg. 2). Some of these changes are applicable to the case of The 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel. This is because the culture for instance is that the two managers will be in charge of their respective operations and at the same time responsible to six departmental heads within the organization. In this case of change of this culture is important if for instance the structure is changed and new responsibilities introduced or even new managers recruited to be in charge of more specific functions. This is to ensure that new culture is adopted that will realize the importance for accepting new changes and participate fully in the new environment in bringing in the expected changes. The same case is expected on the organizational policy. This is to ensure that all responsibilities and duties are clearly outlined. 6.0 SWOT analysis of the organization Strengths Good revenue base characterized by its collections from the nights spent by the customers in the hotel’s rooms. Each night costs the customer £190.00. The occupancy percentage of the rooms is over 60 percent. This means the hotel has stable revenue base. In addition, the hotel serves food and other beverages which also contribute to its revenues. This strength is important in running the business’s daily operations. Large workforce of over 100 employees Accreditation to a training program for its employees Weaknesses Poor leadership Inadequate marketing programs Poor organizational culture Lack of clear and more specific goals Lack of clear company mission and vision Opportunities From the analysis it is clear that the hotel to a good extent, tried to take advantage of the individual customers. However, this is not the limit for a Hotel like The 4 Star Lakeside Hall since there is chance to exploit more on the corporate customers. This is after it has been established that there is potential for corporate customers in the North East and North West. This market is important to the business since for one its not tapped and also their financial base is strong. Technological advancement Threats Competition something that may lead to loss of unsatisfied customers Change in weather conditions along the shores which may come as a result of winter and summer seasons Negative publicity 7.0 Impact of proposed changes The proposed changes in the hotel include culture in order to ensure that the employees are made to accept new responsibilities and duties. Further, it is proposed that employee norms be changed and this is especially with regard to communication and who they should be responsible to and how they should participate in different operations to ensuring high commitment (Munduate, 2003, pg. 11). Finally, it is also proposed that communication structure be changed alongside organizational policy so as to state on how power should be allocated. However, all these proposed changes have got their implications both internally and externally. Internally 1. Recruitment of more staff 2. Further training 3. Investing more in marketing activities Externally Stakeholder management especially on the side of the investors, the competitors and the community as a whole with the purpose of integrating the business fully into the society. Enhanced public relations through different media Strategic Introduction of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) to empower the role of the employees in implementing the proposed changes. Increased marketing campaigns. 8.0 Preferred model and action prioritization The recommended change model is the Lewin’s Three-Step Model. This is because unlike the rest like incremental and continuous change models and that do not comprehensively show what should be done at each stage, it identifies three major steps to organizational change and which include unfreezing, moving and refreezing. This model is most suitable in the case of The 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel. This is because it first provides tools for reducing the impact of the forces putting the business into its current situation; second, it identifies ways of developing new values and attitudes as well as behaviors and finally, the refreezing step which is used to ensuring stabilization by enacting different challenges (Lunenburg 2010, pg. 2). Actions Introduction of new information change of values, attitudes and behaviors development of new values and attitudes as well as behaviors Designing of recruitment and selection procedures Streamlining communication Reviewing of communication structures and organizational policies to support new changes 9.0 Conclusion and recommendation In this report a number of issues have been covered with regard to 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel. A detailed analysis of the hotel context has been taken and established that even though for the past view years the hotel has excelled, different problems have started to emerge and top on the list is lack of performance measurement tools and continuous improvement. Some other problems at 4 Star Lakeside Hall Hotel include decline in service standards and poor food and beverage quality standards. After a detailed analysis of challenges facing the company, it has been recommended that the most suitable model of change that could be used by the business to improve on the situation is the Lewin’s Three-Step Change Model. This is because it provides a three-step process through which the identified problems can be suppressed, new values, attitudes and behaviors that can be developed and sustained by internalizing them and making them stable. 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