Aspects of Management for the Beauty Therapy Business - Term Paper Example

 Abstract Every business needs to remain competitive in the market through certain tactics and strategies. Mary Joe has a hotel chain that she needs to expand by opening a spa centre in parallel to each of her hotel. For the purpose, she needs to manage the change in her organisation and the change process should be carried out in the light of renowned change models like Lewin’s model and Kotter’s model. A team for expansion should be built and trained accordingly to develop he required skills to effectively execute the plan. A strong promotion campaign and an advertisement message are also required to brand the hotel and spa chain to attract the customers. Franchising is another strategy that is helpful in the situation to expand the chain geographically at low cost. May as a leader should maximise engagement of the employees in all processes and she needs to alter hierarchy to fit the needs of current so that communication may not be obstacle and spa should independently grow. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction 4 Change Management 4 Lewin’s Model 5 Unfreeze 5 Change 5 Refreeze 6 Kotter’s Eight Steps of Change 6 Increase urgency 6 Build the Guiding Team 7 Get the Vision 7 Communicate for Buy-in 7 Empower Action  7 Create Short-term Wins  7 Don't let up  7 Make Change Stick  8 Training Needs 8 Triggering Event 8 Data Collection and Analysis 8 Identified Training Needs 9 Design 9 Implementation 9 Evaluation 10 Promotion Management 10 Positioning 10 Branding 11 Acquisition 11 Join Venturing 11 Franchising 11 Advertisement 12 Repute 12 Area of Operation 12 Compliance to Standards 12 Merits and Demerits of Franchising 13 Advantages 13 Disadvantages 13 Role of Leadership Management 13 Organisational Structure 14 Employees Engagement 14 Leadership Style 14 Hierarchy Need Model 15 Conclusion 16 References 17 Introduction Serious kinds of decisions are taken at managerial level in a business organisation by utilising external and internal resources and information. Strategic management of an organisation endeavours to analyze circumstances and update the decisions, designs and models of the organisation accordingly to remain competitive in the rapid dynamic market. Innovation is the key to move forward and keep momentum in the growth of business. Therefore adding value to the products and services by providing uniqueness can differentiate the business and strategically proves as appropriate. This can be carried by scanning internal / external environment and initiating managerial change through leadership and developing a skilled human resource (Lynch, 2012). This report attempts to sort out issues of a hotel chain related with expanding its geographic horizon along with the extension of services like carrying out spa services with each of the hotel so as to develop the spa chain in parallel to the hotel chain. Change Management It is a way to mould teams, individuals and organisations to a desired state and executives and management are responsible for managing and leading change. The development of spa business in extension to the hotel chain is discussed in the light of researched models as follows: Lewin’s Model The model (Lewin, 1943), is based on three stages which are discussed in detail for the hotel business as follows: Unfreeze The first stage is to realise the need to change and that need should be communicated to the entire organisation through compelling message. For the case of hotel chain, it is necessary to grab higher market share and survive with pace and growth which primarily requires a change in managing ways. As a first step it is realised that attaching a spa therapy centre with each of hotel branch can boost business and generate higher revenue. The message to change is communicated to all working teams of the hotel to identify roles, responsibilities and human resource to readjust and / or hire. Thus a controlled crisis within the organisation is created so that effective solutions to change are brought forward. Change After unfreezing, the second stage is to think in a way as to support the new mission and objectives. The transition to change is a difficult process that is encountered by status quo benefiting from the previous setup. The decision of opening spa therapy centre needs consensus of stakeholders at first instance. Once the stakeholders are taken onboard in the process, rest of things become smooth. Investors, partners, managers and employees need to show their concern for the project because their roles will be horizontally expanded and might be stressed for a time period. So it is required to develop skills of managing spa and satisfying customers through interaction and provision of services. A team to lead the project independently is significant so that the plan is implemented and looked after through proper channel. Time and money should be invested on the team to develop skills and capacity to run the project. Mary Joe should be open to answer questions of the team in context of change that will affect operations. Short term objectives should be set for the team to achieve like acquiring information about current trends, customers’ needs and potential opportunities and threats related with the spa and to make the spa known to current and potential customers of the hotel. Refreeze After change, third stage is to institutionalise the change in organisation. Idea of spa should be integrated to the culture of hotel chain. The hotel chain is potential support for the spa chain as the customers of hotel would be attracted to the spa. Spa team should be rewarded and provided timely feedback. Barriers of this change could be short term cost (infrastructure, training, development, promotion, etc) as the fruitful implications will be seen in the long run. Kotter’s Eight Steps of Change According to Kotter and Cohen (2002), the organizational change can be carried out successfully in eight steps discussed below in context of spa centre: Increase urgency The first step is inspire the management of hotel for attaching a spa centre with each of the branch and objectives should be given to the management to provide detailed costs, benefits and potential outcomes. Build the Guiding Team Mary should build a team consisting of current employees of the hotel and spa experts with the help of Peter and Jacqueline. The team should be delegated responsibilities of setting up the spa chain. Get the Vision The team should be asked to provide strategy to optimize and efficiently build and run the spa based on the vision given by Mary Joe. Communicate for Buy-in Marry Joe needs to communicate the expansion vision to the entire organization so that the plan is well integrated into the existing business. Empower Action  The management should look for potential obstacles like cost, efficiency, etc keep reward for the achievers regarding the project. Create Short-term Wins  The whole mission should be divided into the achievable tasks and sub-tasks so that the progress of team can be measured and alternative measures may be taken when and where appropriate. Don't let up  The team should be encouraged and appreciated for the achieved objectives within the time and lapses should be covered up so that the future milestones may not be missed. Make Change Stick  The occurred change in the hotel structure and values should be promoted and integrated into the corporate culture of the organization through developing change leadership. Training Needs Training need assessment is very important part for organisational management when it comes to extend the business portfolio and new skills or manpower required to fulfil the long term objectives. However prior to conduct the training programmes, it is necessary to analyse costs and benefits of the training in the short run as well as in the long run (Cekada, 2010). Training need assessment for the hotel in context of opening up spa chain is discussed below: Triggering Event When the management finds gap between actual performance and anticipated performance in an occurrence, it becomes a triggering even for the management to assess and initiate the training needs (Cekada, 2011). For the hotel, handling more customers in terms of diversified choice and number due to attachment of spa centre becomes the triggering event for the company to assess the training needs. Data Collection and Analysis The second step is to collect relevant data through authentic sources that includes conducting a survey, interviewing, questionnaire method, etc and then to analyse the data to identify the lagging skills in organisation (Cekada, 2011). Mary Joe should conduct a survey to assess the skill and performance deficiencies to find relevant remedies. Identified Training Needs The pool of employees should be classified based on the training needs. There are four classifications of training needs i.e. democratic, diagnostic, analytical and compliance needs (Syed, 2006). Mary Joe should build support for training by taking votes for training from employees and management and classify it as democratic needs. Diagnostic needs for the hotel are based on anticipation to have effective performance like improved customer management, enhanced interpersonal skills, communication, etc. Analytical needs for the hotel are based on alternate ways to conduct a task like directing hotel customers for additional services of spa. Compliance needs are based on law and those are mostly general like taking care of legal rights of customers, colleagues, sub-ordinates, etc. Design Training programs should be organised and tailored according to the assessed needs so that the benefits of training can be maximised. Mary Joe should group identified skills like communication, interpersonal skills, customer services, managerial capacity, etc to create a program of mentoring, role playing, etc (Cekada, 2011). The expertise required for spa centre should also be identified in the third step so that the programs are effectively designed for training. Implementation The phase is very important as all of the above steps are updated and altered as per need and the training designs are implemented to begin with training programs (Grace, 2001). Mary needs to implement the training designs and should endeavour to update the process by 360 degree feedback. Evaluation After implementation, Mary should evaluate the training process, data collection and improvement in performance and skills so that the programs are looked again and added with more rigorous methods if required (Syed, 2006). Promotion Management Quality of services, products and performance ensure success of a business but promotion of a business is also a primary factor that may result in attaining more customers and placing the business in competitive position. It chiefly depends upon the ways and strategies chosen to expand the business because every business differs in nature, circumstances, environment and market (McCartey and Campbell, 2006). In case of hotel chain and pa centre, the ways to promote and expand the business are discussed as follows: Positioning It is a process of placing good image of the company and its products or services to the targeted audience so that they are attracted to become buyers. Mary Joe should use spa centre as a unique selling point of the hotel so that the customers find it a value addition and spend more in the capacity of hotel. It should be advertised and strong message should be created and delivered through celebrity endorsements so that larger numbers of potential customers know about the company and this will also help to build the profile of organisation (Banaleiva and Dhanaraj, 2013). Branding Mary Joe needs to develop the hotel name and the spa as brands that have uniqueness of services and the potential customers may find it convenient to differentiate between Mary’s hotels and spa and the others (Bang and Joshi, 2010). Acquisition It is a way to expand business and grab greater market share by purchasing the rival small companies. Mary has already expanded her hotel chain by purchasing another chain of 10 hotels and it has already incurred a great deal of budget. Hence as of now the acquisition strategies are not viable for the organisation to expand operations. Join Venturing It is a way to expand business by joining to another company to enhance service offerings and it is a low cost strategy. Mary’s deal to open spa centre with each of its hotel chain is in process and is a viable solution to give additional values to the customers through such a horizontal expansion. Franchising It is a process to expand business by leasing the model of company and its brand name to another company for the prescribed span of time. At the moment, franchising is so far the most viable expansion strategy for the hotel chain to prosper and grab higher value in the market because it is least costly and is not yet implemented while other common expansion strategies have already been in action (Byers et al. 2014). Franchising strategy for the hotel is discussed as follows: Advertisement Mary needs to advertise the opportunity for small and large firms and investors to join the hotel chain by buying the franchise of hotel. The ad should be attractive and meant to target high esteemed business profiles (Byers et al. 2014). Repute The firms chosen for franchise buy request should be based on strong financial condition of the firm that should be assessed through the detailed bank statements. Second the firm should have a business history and is well known in its area of operation. They must have skilled team and leadership potential to manage the franchise (Bang and Joshi, 2010) Area of Operation The area of operation for the franchise should be chosen based on several factors that mostly include the potential customers like tourists, visitors, etc in the area and buying power and current trend (Banaleiva and Dhanaraj, 2013). Compliance to Standards The chosen firm should be made liable to comply by the standards of the company so that the customers find uniformity in each of franchise and other hotel chains. The franchises should follow the same organisational model and must own the required skills in similar capacities (Byers et al. 2014). Merits and Demerits of Franchising The advantages and disadvantages of franchising strategy for the hotel are briefly analysed as follows: Advantages There are several advantages of the strategy like one business model along with the standards set by Mary will be copied throughout all the locations which will enhance brand equity of the hotel. This will also help to run the business on economies of scale and operational cost will be reduced to a great extent whereas the amount of investment will come from the local investor. Mary would save her time and efforts as well because she cannot be present at all branches. Hence this is the best strategy to expand the business nationwide. Disadvantages At the same time there are disadvantages of the strategy like it is hard to find a well reputed local investor who shows adequate commitment and the company standards may be compromised anywhere that can lead to lose good will of the company. Moreover, there is no guarantee whether a franchise will successfully generate returns or not. Role of Leadership Management The process of influencing people to let them perform and achieve the task willingly to attain efficiency is called leadership. In contemporary organisations, leadership management plays vital role in moulding behaviours of employees, engaging them in the processes, empowering them and optimising the capacity of organisation. Leadership of an organisation also attempts to develop leaders at levels in the organisation to delegate responsibilities (Mullins, 2007). In the case of hotel chain and its expansion, leadership management can play the role in following ways: Organisational Structure Leadership is significant contributor towards structuring the organisation. Mary as a leading manager needs to make some changes in the hierarchy of the hotel so that there may not be found any conflict in the management of spa centre and the hotel chain. She has to bring spa centre in parallel to the hotel so that spa centre remains integrated in the hotel but managed autonomously. There should be no hierarchical layer between executives and the manager of spa which may result in generating independent growth of the spa as well. Employees Engagement Contemporary studies have revealed that increased engagement of employees in the organisation results in benefiting the organisation of worth £1500 per employee per annum (Radu et al. 2010). Mary should engage employees in the expansion processes, planning, executing and even in formulating strategy. She only needs to create a common objective through shared vision and then the employees and the other team should be asked to set their own goals through bottom-up approach. This will enhance two way communications and will improve feedback process as well. Leadership Style According to theory y, leadership should not control the employees and dictate them rather they should be directed under a vision to set their own pace to achieve the objectives while theory x states that employees should be controlled and kept under strong supervision. Mary should be autocratic (theory x) at times when the need is to reinforce objectives and ongoing performance is below expectations (McCartey and Campbell, 2006). She should be a democratic leader when the employees perform well and showing sense of responsibility. Hence it is situation dependent and the best leadership style for her is collaborative leadership that means a combination of negotiation, compromise, autocracy and democracy. Hierarchy Need Model Maslow’s five staged model can be divided into two primary categories i.e. basic needs and growth needs. Mary can apply the theory in her business as a tool of motivation to encourage employees in order to get maximum output (Maslow, 1943). Basic Needs The employees of an organisation require adequate compensation to meet their domestic expenses and to work in such an environment where they feel mentally and physically secured. Mary needs to revise compensation plan for the team of new project because the entire team is loaded with additional responsibilities and would be stressed to work in dual pressure. Therefore, she needs to identify the basic needs of the team and to provide them the due safe environment and benefits to retain their motivation level. Growth Needs The employees of an organisation need to be rewarded with respect, self esteem, recognition and growth in their career after fulfilment of their basic needs. They need to be praised and appreciated for their efforts. Mary should set rewards and recognition for the effort of the team after accomplishing their goals and they need to be appreciated throughout the new project. Words like ‘thank you’ from the management can leave a positive impact over motivation level of the team. Conclusion Consequently, a business needs to strive for its survival on continuous basis and it should keep updated with the internal and external environmental changes that may drive an impact over the business. Mary should update her own managerial skills and capacity to deal with bigger projects as she intends to expand the corporate horizon of the organisation. She has to build a dedicated team to open up spa chain and manage and promote the chain accordingly. The team should be prudently chosen and her leadership skills can help to achieve the mission of expansion. References Banalieva, ER and Dhanaraj, C., 2013. Home-region orientation in international expansion strategies. Journal of International Business Studies. 44(2):89-116. Bang, VV and Joshi, SL., 2010. Market expansion strategy–performance relationship. Journal of Strategic Marketing. 18(1):57-75. 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