The Regency Grand Hotel

The Regency Grand Hotel Overview Summary and Background:  The fve star Regency Regency Grand Hotel was established established 15 years ago ago in Thailand and recently recently been bought by an American hotel chain. The company retained the previous employees but the general manager decided to take an early retirement and a ew were transerred transerred to other positions. A 1! year e"perienced #ohn $ecker is appointed as the new general manager. manager. $ecker is a strong believer o empowerment and he introduced this practice o empowerment to his new %ob workplace. The employees o Grand Regency Regency Hotel were not accustomed with such practices so they aced many problems. $ecker soon reali&ed that his idea o empowerment has turned into disaster. The customer complaints started growing day by day and many employees did not know how to address a certain issue by their own. As a result several employees let the hotel. $ecker was also upset o the situation as the hotel was also highly critici&ed in the press. 'mployee turnover( absenteeism and unsupportive environment haunted the hotel.

Issues and Problems:  

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)roblems a. b. c. d. e. . g.

 

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High High empowe empowerm rment ent to to lower lower manag manageme ement nt *eci *ecisi sion on maki making ng prob proble lems ms +veral +veralll bus busine iness ss pero perorma rmance nce redu reduced ced ,tress( ,tress( absente absenteeism( eism( illnes illnesses ses mounted mounted in in the employ employees ees *issa *issatis tisac actio tion n o o -ust -ustome omers rs High tu turnover rrespon rresponsible sible behav behavior ior o employe employees es and blame blame game game attitude attitude

-auses a. mpl mplem emen enta tati tion on o new new stra strate tegy gy with withou outt doing doing home homewo work rk and and with withou outt b. c. d. e. .

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orecasting its outcomes and conse/uences ntroduct ntroduction ion o empowerm empowerment ent without without ormal ormal training training -hange -hange in organi& organi&ation ations s working working withou withoutt proper proper communi communicatio cation n ,hiting ,hiting o authorit authority y rom middle middle manageme management nt to lower lower managemen managementt Tasks were were not not defned defned properly properly 0a%or 0a%or and minor issues issues could could not not be distinguish distinguished ed by the employ employees ees

,ignifcance o problems to sub%ect An overconfdent #ohn $ecker had no knowledge about Thai culture and he didnt even bother to do his homework beore implementing his new strategy at hotel. $ecker changed the culture o hotel by and introduced empowerment to a culture which was totally bureaucratic. The employees and ront desk receptionists were conus conused ed as they they were were not used used to take take decis decision ions s themse themselve lves s and were were not trained to practice empowerment. The supervisors as well as other employees were also conused in distinguishing minor problems rom ma%or problems( as

$ecker did not defne it or the employees did not get it properly. +ten the good decisions by the employees were reversed by the supervisors which demotivated the employees and they reverted back to the practice o taking orders rom supervisors. $ecker got irritated soon ater he received an increasingly high number o complaints. -ustomer complaints in written grew and 'mployee turnover also increased signifcantly.

Solutions: •

 The decision making problems aced by employees can be solved i $ecker communicate properly with the employees about the empowerment structure and distinguish between minor and ma%or problems or them. )ositive -onse/uences2  The employees will be able to distinguish between minor and ma%or problems which will help them in /uick decision making and they will be able to e"ecute their duties e3ciently. 4egative -onse/uences2 t can be /uite di3cult to communicate a totally dierent culture to the employees. They might perceive the idea in a wrong way.

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n order to establish a healthy customer relationship and trust the ront desk should be trained how to deal with the customers. The decision taken by the lower employees shall be based on the needs o the customers. t will reduce the customer complaints and also the problems will be solved at ront desk. )ositive -onse/uences2 t will help satisy the customers needs and demands and can later on result in a proftable customer relationship. The irritation and con6ict between the higher and lower management will also be minimum. 4egative -onse/uences2 t might cost a great deal o time and money to train these employees. 'very customer oriented avourable decision will lead sometimes to a fnancial loss and managerial problems may arise.

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 The employees need to be motivated to reduce the stress and absenteeism. A system o perormance bonuses should be introduced and the employees should be given bonuses on the basis o their individual perormance and customer satisactory ratio. )ositive -onse/uences2

t will help reduce the stress in employees and will help develop a healthy environment. The employees will be motivated to take right decisions and not repeat the mistake. 4egative -onse/uences2 $y introducing the reward system it may increase the cost.

Plan o !ction:  The aim o $ecker is to regain the lost glory o Grand regency so he will frst reverse the empowerment and get back to previous bureaucratic operational style. He will then get a knowhow about Thai culture and later shall develop a strategy to gradually change the culture o Grand Regency. He would conduct training sessions or the employees about use o empowerment. He would get more involved with the employees and get to know about their problems and help to remove them. He will defne a system o problem identifcation or employees to let them know about minor and ma%or problems. Ater that he would try to make them confdent enough to solve problems on their own and communicate the ma%or problems to their superiors. He should develop a sense that the customers are always important and their happiness is always the priority.

Possible "onse#uences:  The conse/uences will be in avour o the organi&ation( the employees will have a defne path to ollow. The customer will be more satisfed and will result in increase o earning and the goodwill o the hotel will also increase.

Theory and $odel !%%lication: 17 Hostedes -ultural dimensions Theory2  The Hostedes cultural dimension theory is applicable on this scenario as all its components like power distance( individualism8collectivism( uncertainty avoidance e"ist and can be used to address the problems. 97 ,ocial learning Theory2 :earning by observing ; The theory stresses upon the need to learn and observe a behavior model and then implement it to avourable outcomes. $ecker( beore introducing empowerment should have practiced social learning. <7 0ental 0odels2  To achieve goals with some degree o predictability and sanity( mental models are the road maps. Here( $ecker needed to study the road maps beore implementing the new strategy. =7 '"pectancy Theory o 0otivation 2

 The work eort by both $ecker and the employees should have resulted in the individual desired outcomes but it ailed. '"pectancy theory model is needed to be applied here to get proper outcome o the desired outcome.