Work and Organisational Change in the Hotel Industry - Case Study Example

Wоrk аnd Оrgаnisаtiоnаl Сhаngе Name Institution Date   Wоrk аnd Оrgаnisаtiоnаl Сhаngе Introduction Organizational change occurs is many businesses and has been identified as one of the driving force towards an improved productivity and performance of organisations (Palmer, Dunford & Akin 2006, p.3). Organisational change may take place within the workplace so as to respond to new opportunities. It can also take place for the purpose of avoiding impeding threats that a company may experience in future. It is important to note that, change in an organisation may be a difficult task for managers and other employees within the business. The reason is that, managers as well as employees may be faced new challenges of adapting to the change process or the new implemented change (Yukl 2010, p.14). Therefore, to effectively plan and implement change, managers have a responsibility of learning on how to make it easy for the transition process that may be difficult. Managers in an organisation are also required to have the skills and knowledge of managing change within the organisation. According to Palmer, Dunford & Akin (2006, p.67), there are many factors that may lead to change within an organisation such as; competition, desire for growth, government regulations, needs to improve processes and technology. The continual evolvement and change of the business environment poses new demands for the organisation. To remain competitive, organisations have a responsibility of realising the emerging demands from the business environment and respond to those demands through the implementation of organisational change (Hayes 2010, p.6). It is important for managers or leaders to understand that, any emerging demands from the internal and external environment of a business forces the organisation to make changes so as to remain competitive (Cameron & Green 2012, p.4). Organisational capability to adapt to change is a strength that enables a business to continue surviving as well as thrive in a threatening environment (Thompson & McHugh 2009, p.116). With this basis of organisational change and its importance, this assignment report uses a case study of The Lakeside Hall Hotel to compiling a force field analysis of the present situation at the hotel so as to identify the pressures and the tensions that are for and against bringing about change. The force field analysis will also help in reflecting on ways of improving the equilibrium so as to facilitate change. The assignment report will also use a SWOT analysis as a diagnostic model for the Hotel situation while considering the wider external, internal as well as strategic implications of the proposed changes. The assignment will also make justifications of using the chosen model of diagnostic while identifying a number of priority actions that needs to be taken. The assignment report will also consider particular types of change that can be used to help the hotel in planning, monitoring and implementing the proposed organisational change. Force Field Analysis People’s activity within an organisation and its performance are affected by forces that surround the organisation. According to Lewin’s force field theory, it is important to analyse and distinguish the component parts of a field so as to establish forces that are driving or restraining change within an organisation (Cameron & Green 2012, p.12). These forces are usually seen not to be in balance to allow the occurrence of change. According to Burnes (2009, p.221), driving forces work for change while restraining forces work against the desired change within the organisation. Examples of driving forces include; goals, fears, ambition and needs that drive an organisation towards change. Restraining forces act to oppose driving forces instead of compromising forces that are independent in themselves. In relation to our case study, there are driving and restraining forces in The Lakeside Hall Hotel. Forces for Bringing Change The hotel needs to continue providing a high quality service to guests by meeting fully client’s needs. The institution wants to meet the needs of different guests and those with special needs like the over 55’s. Management training is necessary to instil new management skills to managers that will drive the organisation to another level. It is evident that, in the recent years, the organisation has declined in the accreditation standards that have reduced its performance and continuous improvement. To remain competitive, the organisation must change to meet the people national quality standards. Forces against Bringing Change The training efforts of the organisation are not meeting the current needs of the organisation to remain competitive. Some of the hotel departments do not have the required ambience to accommodate the expected change. For example, the leisure club lacks the ambience of a high class establishment with cleanliness problems as well as un-imaginative set of activities classes. Food quality and restaurant service standards are low and something needs to be done so as to improve on these services. Remote employees are not performance focused because they are not provided with realistic goals as well as development opportunities. There is need to implement organisational change so as to provide the remote employees with realistic goals and development opportunities for them to be more focused on performance. The sales manager does not understand electronic media and this is a big challenge in the implementation of organisational change within the hotel where technology is vital and especially for marketing. How to Move the Equilibrium to Facilitate Change The driving and restraining forces of change usually interplay to create the stable routine of the normal and regular activities within the organisation. They usually balance out and equalise so as to fluctuate in an equilibrium state for an activity. According to Grint (2005, p.118), to achieve change within the hotel, it is important to alter the driving and restraining forces that maintain the equilibrium. To increase productivity within the organisation, it will be necessary to change the forces that are keeping the productivity of the organisation at its quasi-stationary level. This can be achieve by strengthening the driving forces like spending more on training and marketing the hotel to achieve more productivity. It can also be achieved through restraining factors that are inhibiting change like investing in machinery to keep the hotel more clean and tidy. This will make work easier for employees. This is a more rewarding approach that brings change within the organisation with less resistance from workers (Fineman, Gabriel & Sims 2010, p.8). It is important to understand that, the current situation of the hotel cannot continue at its current level under the prevailing circumstances and change is inevitable. To facilitate change, there are various conditions that can change the current circumstances in the hotel. There is need to for more training of staff, there is need for giving remote employees realistic goals that focus on productivity, there is need for retraining the sales manager, more internet marketing is required with the introduction of digital marketing, employ more qualified staff for improved food quality and service to clients. Appropriate Diagnostic Model SWOT Analysis Strengths The hotel has a perfect location that is accessible and appealing to guests. They have frequent clientele at all seasons. There are enough workers who could facilitate the change effectively. Training of workers is available to equip them with the current knowledge in the Hotel industry. The hotel has a very competent marketing team together with the use of internet marketing. The organisation has all the facilities for a 4 star hotel to cater for excellent client service. This means that, The Lakeside Hall Hotel has much strength that can be worked on to maintain its class as a 4star hotel of preference by clients. Weaknesses The organisation does not meet two of the accreditation standards due to training and development deficiencies in the organisation. Failure of meeting these standards presents the face of the organisation as incompetent and unsuitable to be used by clients. The current conditions of food quality and service standards are in poor performance and this is a weakness that the organisation must work on to remain competitive and improve productivity. Remote employees do not have realistic goals and development opportunities to help them focus on performance. The sales manager does not have any idea of understanding electronic media. Opportunities The hotel has the opportunity of expanding to other parts within and outside the country. Therefore, changing the way things are currently done within the organisation will help in meeting international hotel business services. The Lakeside Hall Hotel will be able to compete globally and achieve a wide customer base that improves its productivity. The marketing team has the opportunity to utilise digital marketing over the internet to market the hotel globally. Threats The company is facing competition from other hotels who meet the people national quality standards. The organisation is also faced with the threat of other 4 star hotels within the country that have competent staff in food and quality service to clients. They also face threat globally to move to operate in other countries without offering the best service for clients. This may undermine its capacity of being successful in the extended countries. Justification for Using SWOT Analysis as a Diagnostic Model The reason for using SWOT Analysis as a diagnostic model is that, it helps in identifying the strengths that the organisation can build on so as to remain competitive in the market. It also helps in identifying the weaknesses that the organisations must work on to improve of performance and productivity. SWOT Analysis also helps in establishing the available opportunities that an organisation can explore in the wider market so as to achieve improved growth (Andriopoulous, Dawson 2008, p.13). It is a diagnostic model that enables the identification of threats that an organisation is facing or can face in future if change is not implemented. SWOT Analysis is a diagnostic model that enables to form a basis of analysing organisational performance and areas where change is needed to improve the productivity and performance of an organisation. It is a model that presents an unbiased opinion on the current situation of an organisation. The use of SWOT Analysis will help managers come up with suggested solutions to the identified problems while achieving their objectives within the business by understanding the organisation. It is a model that helps in defining the type of practices that an organisation should carry out. It is a model that determines standards of performance for various domains within an organisation like; departments, teams, leaders, functions as well as the organisation as a whole. It is a key to identifying issues that should be addressed by the effort of organisation change and suggesting actions that should be taken to address the identified issues (Adair 2010, p.4). Proposed Changes There are various changes that must be undertaken so as to ensure that the hotel remains competitive within the wider market. Employee training should meet the standards of the people national quality standards. The marketing team needs to implement a digital marketing initiative that sales the hotel internationally. Employees also need to be provided with realistic goals that aim at achieving productivity within the organisation. The organisation needs to keep its amenities and services more appealing and suitable for guests in all seasons. This will be achieved by equipping employees with the necessary knowledge and equipment so as to perform their work effectively. If necessary, new and more qualified workers need to be recruited to meet the national standards criteria for quality food and service. The sales manager must also be trained so as to have an understanding and use of electronic media. The sales team must also be trained on how to market the hotel in the new countries where the business has extensions. This will require them to be instilled with the knowledge of international business environment and how to make a business thrive in the international market. Priority Actions to Undertake To Improve the Status of the Organisation To improve on the status of the organisation, there are various actions that must be undertaken. Since the hotel is sensitive to changes from the external environmental, it is important to embrace flexibility so as to react quickly to as well as adapt to challenges from the external environment. Mills & Dye (2006, p.34) Employees in the organisation have close interactions as well as relationships with their managers and any change that occurs within the organisation may result to direct effects on them. Burnes (2009, p.33) describes that, to minimise employee resistance to change, there are various roles that managers must undertake when planning and implementing organisational change. For employees to support the proposed change within the organisation priority actions such as effective communication, understanding of employee attitude as well as manager’s perception on the undertaken actions is important. Going from what is certain and known to the otherwise is usually a very difficult and painful experience for employees within an organisation (Grint 2005, p.112). Organisational change makes employees lose their comfort with the known and what is familiar to them, their sense of competency that they are used to, the financial security that they had as well as networks that they have taken long time to build. Considering the model of change that was proposed by Lewin, there are three options or actions that should be taken to achieve effective organisation change including unfreeze, change and refreeze. Managers are required to have a look at the options that are available before moving from the present state to the desired future state. They should then make an evaluation of the possibilities of every option and make a decision on the best option. Managers must be aware of the forces of resistance to change that arise from employees within the organisation. Mullins (2011, p.45) argues that, using strong driving forces will work towards breaking the habits of employees, challenge their interests and unfreeze their customs so as to overcome their resistance to change. To lower resistance of employees, Lewin argued that, the value that employees attach to certain behaviour should be reduced by following a stepped process of unfreezing, changing as well as refreezing their beliefs, values and attitudes for the achievement of organisational change. Therefore, in relation to Lewin’s model of change, any proposed action of change within the organisation should be communicated to employees by managers. Additionally, for the success of the company, managers should pay attention to the attitude of employees, perception of the action of managers, motivation of employees as well as continuous improvement of the working environment. Various actions are recommended. Managers must realise the value of employees who are effective, cooperative and collaborative within the work place. They must interact with employees as well as inform them of any change within the organisation. According to Collins (1998, p.56), communication and listening of employees enable managers to understand their needs as well as their reason of being resistant to change. This is the unfreezing stage of Lewins model of change whereby communication between managers as well as employees is improved. The other action that will ensure successful change within the organisation is understanding employees’ attitudes while keeping in mind the possibility of negative response such as; immobilisation, denial as well as stability. Taking the leadership role of guiding and directing employees along the process of organisational change by managers is important. Managers must be aware of employee motivation when moving on with change together with their receptive of new ideas. Listening as well as making explanations to employees is an important process for convincing them the benefits that will be achieved by implementing the proposed change (Hughes 2010, p.122). After the implementation of the change, mangers have the responsibility to continue communicating with employees about the change that has been implemented. This is the last stage of change process by Lewin. This serves the purpose of promoting the exchange of ideas as well as information among all the parties within the organisation. The capability of managers in being attentive to employees define their extent of understanding how change affects employees and take the corrective action in supporting them. Therefore, an effective change management requires managers to be aware of the impact of organisational change to the firm as well as the employees. It must bring positive results for both and a thorough analysis should be carried out by managers before implementing organisational change within an organisation (Paton & McCalman 2008, p.82). This enables them to determine how the change benefits the company’s performance as well as the employees. The hotel requires high labour input and it is the responsibility of the managers to pay attention to different impacts that are imposed on employees. This means that, managers must keep in mind that, motivating and creating an environment that serves to encourage employee acceptance of change is a contributing factor in sustaining the hotel’s competitiveness. Types of Change There are different types of change that can be used to enable the hotel in planning, monitoring as well as implementing the proposed organisational change. They include; planned vs unplanned change, organisation wide vs change primarily to one part of the organisation, Remedial vs Developmental Change and incremental vs transformational among other types of change (Price 2009, p.219). Having the knowledge of which type of change to implement is necessary to enable all the people taking part retain the scope as well as the perspective in the time of complexities and frustrations during change. Organisation-wide vs Subsystem Change Organisation-wide change is a change can take different forms like a major restructuring, cultural change and collaboration whereby organisations are aimed at evolving to a level which is different within their life cycle. A subsystem change is a change that occurs in one part of the organisation in either a product or a service, reorganising a specific department, or even implementing a new process that will serve to deliver products and services. In relation to our case study, organisation-wide change is necessary to change the way of doing things and adapt to a new way of operating that serves to meet the needs of guests. A subsystem change will be required to be implemented in the leisure club, food as well as service departments. Transformational vs Incremental Change Transformational change occurs when the organisation structure or culture is changed. The hotel requires transformational change so as to achieve teams or workers who are self-directed in focusing of performance with realistic goals. Incremental change occurs when the organisation maintains continuous improvement as a process of quality management. This will involve improving the current service quality in the departments that have been doing well so as to continue increasing efficiencies in the workplace. Remedial vs Developmental Change Organisational change can be implemented for the purpose of providing remedy to current situations within the organisation. For example, change in The Lakeside Hall Hotel must be implemented for the purpose of improving the poor performance of the hotel that has been experienced for the last twelve months. Remedial change is easily identified since the problem at hand is solved. Developmental change is also necessary for the hotel to expand its customer base within and outside the country. Developmental change is more general that remedial change since it addresses a more general problem and not a specific one like in the case for remedial change. Unplanned vs Planned Change Unplanned change is usually sudden and unexpected and it is implemented to respond to a situation which is highly reactive. Planned change is carried out following a strategic plan for implementation after the leaders of an organisation realises the need for carrying out a major change. The Lakeside Hall Hotel needs to come up with a strategic plan that stipulates the organisations mandate in implementing change while defining the areas that needs change and ways of accomplishing the change. Conclusion Organisational change occurs due to different reasons in a business. What needs to be done is that, leaders within an organisation must recognise deficiencies that exist and take appropriate measures so as to propose and implement the required change that will deal with those deficiencies. The case study of The Lakeside Hall Hotel is one of the situations that organisational change is inevitable to ensure that the organisation remains competitive both locally and internationally. This report identifies the areas that the organisation has opportunities for growth and areas that need to be improved. Using the various theoretical approaches to organisational change, the report provides evidence of what actions needs to be taken if The Lakeside Hall Hotel is to remain competitive and improve of its productivity and performance. References Adair, J, 2010, Develop Your Leadership Skills. London: Kogan Page. Andriopoulous, C, & Dawson, P, 2008, Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation, London: Sage. Burnes, B. (2009), Managing Change, Harlow: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Cameron, E. and Green, M, 2012, Making Sense of Change Management, 3rd Edition, UK: Kogan Page Collins, D, 1998, Organisational Change – Sociological Perspectives, London: Routledge. Fineman, S. 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