Managing Operations - Assignment Example

MANAGING OPERATIONS By Location Managing Operations In the hospitality industry, employees are of high importance if a business organization has to do well. This is because of the rate at which customers interact with customers and the fact that there are many services that are always provided in this industry. This implies that it is very important for a hotel to make sure that the performance of their employees is of the expected standards. Failure enhance performance standards a hotel faces the risk of losing many of their customers (Tsui& Lai 2009, p. 155). In order to make sure that the performance of their employees are of the expected standard, Hotels use Richey international to spy on them. Such spying involves random assessors who come as regular guests much with the main aim of checking on more than 50 standards of performance. Observation might be considered as a tough measure by most of the employees thus leading to unsettlement. Knowing that one can be under observation at any time does not necessarily help in improving an employee’s performance (Kaufman 2014, p. 217). Some of the employees might find themselves trying to make sure that nothing they do give a bad impression to the observers. Since they never know when the observers are coming they will work under the pressure of wanting to make sure that everything they do is perfect. Sometimes this kind of pressure is not positive because it might interfere with the employees psychologically, because they have to always try too hard to be impressive instead of being at their best always (Howard, p. 2006). Even if most of them would want to be at their best all the time, this kind of pressure can only yield negative results. In an environment that employees know that they might be under observation at any time, there is the likeliness of rigidity among the customers. This is because they will want to stick to the formal guideline even in a situation that logics might say otherwise. This means that the operation will lack flexibility (Bach & Edwards 2013, p. 219). Employees will never want to chip in and help out in areas that might need their attention because of the fear that this might be translated as an act of neglect to their specific responsibilities. This kind of operation might also interfere with the productivity of employee because being spied on does not motivate (Searle 2011, p. 206). Lack of motivation will also mean that the performance of employees at the hotel will lack passion and it will turn to a place where every employee works with the aim of pleasing the assessors. This might be said to be a positive way of making sure that every employee in a hotel acts responsible, but lack of trust might be the beginning of employee exodus (Mathis & Jackson 2009, p. 111). In such an environment no employee, even the most skilled and experienced ones will readily resign immediately they find offers from hotels with less harsh observation programs. There are a number of ethical dilemmas that can arise from using this method of employee observation. For instance, in this process employee might lose the trust that they had towards the management (Stanton & Stam 2006, p. 211). The fact that assessors might use tapes and photos to ascertain the quality of services with the knowledge might lead to some questions rising from the employees. Workers also deserve some sort of privacy that is usually invaded if their employers spy on them (Price 2011, p. 223). By spying on their employees, employers openly show their lack of trust in them. This means that they will even lose the trust of the trustworthy employees that they have. When employees know that they are being spied on they might tend to be less committed and also loses morale. Spying might show that the management does not believe in their capacity and integrity, which will end up interfering with their level of commitment even if they were highly committed before(Phillips & Gully 2013, p. 156). A company that exposes their employees to such a working environment should be ready for high rates of turnover because most of their employees will always be hoping for a better working environment (Neider&Schriesheim 2003, P. 201). In a market where there is a shortage of qualified personnel this might be very catastrophic. Such a working environment will also make it hard for the hotel to keep hold of their most experienced and skilled employees. Employees need to be empowered in order for them to be at their highest level of productivity (Noe 2013, p. 167). With such a spying system, the employees at the hotel will loss the autonomy that they had regarding decision making especial when they have to make such decisions fast during emergencies. Apart from spying there are other approaches that the hotel can use to make sure that they improve the productivity of their employees (Sonnentag 2002, p. 177). For instance they could decide to use peer evaluation. This will help them in making sure that employees are able to evaluate themselves thus making it easier for the organization to involve their employees in the process (Deckop 2006, P. 221). This process will not lead to lack of trust between employees and the management because the evaluation is done by the employees themselves The hotel could also consider using more frequent and development programs. These programs are effective in improving employees in certain areas that they have shown weakness (Krausert 2009, p. 187). This is an approach that might be slightly costly, but has proved to be important for both employers and employees because it enable employees to enhance the skills and experience of their employees (Armstrong & Armstrong 2012, p. 152). This approach also enhances job satisfaction, making sure that employers are able to retain their most skilled and experienced employees. Some training techniques such as mentorship can also enhance teamwork in an organization. The hotel can also consider applying performance measurement to know how the performance of individual employee’s rate and what can be done to improve the performance. On technique that can be used in this case is benchmarking employees against other employees and leaders in the industry. This will help in identifying the gap that is there between an individual employee and industry leaders. They can also some up with a program through which they can get feedback from customers concerning the employees. Since customers are the people who have daily experiences with employees, they are in a better position to communicate their satisfactions and dissatisfactions. 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