Establishing Compliance Management System at aHotel Company - Essay Example

COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Name University Affiliation Course Date Taking an example of a Hotel company that has various business systems, it is faced with a large number of threats and opportunities at the same time. The organization has a threat of being attacked by terrorists and suffer huge losses in terms of breakages of materials, and loss of competent human resources that are key to the survival of the organization. Once attacked by terrorists, the organization loses a large portion of its customers as a result of the image formed in the minds of the public that it is insecure to hold functions in that hotel. After such an event it loses its reputation and acquiring it is way very long process (Getty, 2007). There is usually stiff competition for customers in the hospitality industry. There is an increase of entrants into the market each day. Every organization operating in the hospitality faces the risk of being closed down due to liquidation issues. Therefore the organization has to put strategies in place that ensure it maintains a high competitive advantage for it to remain in the industry. A hotel that is established to meet the needs of tourist in a place where its income depends on the presence of a tourist attraction is at a high risk of losing customers when the attraction does not receive any tourists. This means that the organization exists as long as the attraction is there. The hotel, therefore, faces a threat of being closed down due to insufficient revenue from its operations (Hjalager, 2012). In any organization, adoption of changing technology is of ultimate importance for survival and gaining of competitive advantage against their competitors. Changing technology is a threat to organizations since its acquisition involves high budgets which may drain the financial resources of the company. Another threat is any legislation that hinders the operation of the organization. Therefore the organization is under a threat to be adversely affected by new laws being legislated. For instance in a situation where its customers are mainly tourists from abroad and then a by law or an act is passed by the Parliament banning immigration from some countries who visit the country. This becomes a big threat to the generation of revenue for such an organization (Amabile, 2011). The organization is under threat of losing key suppliers in their business. This is because in most cases businesses or organization that is keen on the standard and the cost of goods they receive from reliable suppliers have a competitive advantage and are likely to survive easily as opposed to those that just get goods and services from any supplier available in the market. The organization, therefore, has a threat of acquiring substandard goods which affect its operations and may lose customers which translate to losing of revenue (Chen, 2009). The cost of land is high in most countries of the world. Most organizations do not own the land in which they are sitting on. Most hotel businesses have lease agreements for the land they are currently situated. Hence expiration of that lease is a threat to most businesses because it may risk losing the premises or bear the cost of relocation which is very expensive to execute. Any litigation in court against a hotel business ownership of land is a big threat to its operation (Mathiensen, 2009). For hotel businesses located along the coast especially those that are established to serve the tourists during vacations at the coast are at risk of being destroyed by ocean tsunamis that may occur due to movements of the earth on the sea bed. However, even those hotels that are located far away from the coast line also are threatened by other natural disasters like landslides, earthquakes and many others (Johne, 2010). However, the hotel business has a wide range of opportunities that if well utilized can make the business thrive in the industry. One of the opportunities is competition. An organization that is keen on the moves of their opponents can use their competitors' strategies and come up with their own to formulate theirs that can make the organization stand out. Another opportunity is the fact that hotel businesses especially the ones that serve tourists operate under seasons. This is an opportunity because the organization can prepare itself to thrive and make huge profits during high season and then invest less during the off-season in order to save on operational cost (Getty, 2007). Any organization can have competent staff in its pool of employees. However, some organizations have key experts in the field and therefore may possess the most competent staff in the industry. This is a strength that can be used to outdo others in the industry. The organization can take this as an opportunity by increasing motivation for its staff in order to give them morale to work towards realizing the objectives of the organization (Mathiensen, 2009). Every business has key business processes that make the operation of the organization. Such business processes include customer service, accounting, training, hiring, payroll, information systems and inventory management. These systems are key to the running of the business and are interdependent on each other with an aim of attaining the objectives of the organization as a whole (Amabile, 2011). However, strategies need to be put in place to manage the performance of these systems including offering training for its staff on regular basis in order to enhance their skills and enable performance improvements. Setting up strict deadlines to enable them to arrange themselves to meet the tasks they have been assigned in time. This makes them more focused on their work and helps them keep track of the progress of the organization. Another strategy is setting targets to achieve at the end of every three months and convene a meeting to review the progress and to assess whether the targets have been met and identify the variances between the set targets and the actual performance and provide solutions for attaining the target (Mathiensen, 2009). Establish rewards for their performance of the various departments or systems in order to motivate them to work towards the targets of the system and also the objectives of the entire organization. Decentralization of the management is also important in order to give power to the heads of various systems to have control of their systems. In this case, every system should have its heads and operate as autonomous from the entire organization. The system head will be responsible for all the aspects of the system including the profitability, the costs incurred under that system, for instance, the cost of hiring for hiring system, cost of advertisement under customer service system (Chen, 2009). In addition to decentralization, there is need to establish performance appraisals for the organization and usually reward them for meeting the appraisal targets. To enhance the performance of the organization and that of the industry as well as equipping the employees in different business trends in the industry, it is important to carry out benchmarking in other organizations of the same kind and compare the operation of their systems with the systems of the business and then pick the positive points about them. Implementation of those points follows in order to improve the performance of respective systems in the business. This also enables the organization to realize its strengths and work to maintain them as well as realize their weaknesses and work towards improving where necessary (Getty, 2007). In the past, there have been notable performances in various sectors of the organization. Although the actual performances have not always met the budgeted figures, there has been an increase in favorable variances where the organization has spent less than the amount budgeted. The preparation of budgets has also improved over time and it now involves the review of suppliers in order to identify the most appropriate standard goods available to suit the need of the organization. The review is done every year during formulation of budgets (Johne, 2010). Over the time there has been an improvement in customer service performance. There is an improvement in terms of customer satisfaction and customer recruitment. The organization has increased customer loyalty and has loyal customers composed of individuals and also corporate organizations. This has improved the reputation of the organization in the market and the industry making it have a competitive advantage over most of its competitors (Chen, 2009). The organization has also improved the financial performance over time. There has been an increasing trend in revenue generation in terms of interests and profits. The organization has also made a tremendous improvement in both short term investments and also capital budgeting. It has acquired assets that have improved the operations of the organization. These assets include catering equipment that has improved cooking making it faster and more efficient hence leading to the introduction of new products for customers. This has also improved the quality of service and products offered by the organization hence increasing sales and hence increase of revenue (Johne, 2010). Innovation is a crucial part of an organization and cannot be ignored in any part of the business system. While hiring, the human resource needs to ensure they have selected employees from a large pool of applicants in order to get the best and the most competent among them. This is important in uplifting the standards of performance in the organization (Hjalager, 2012). In the accounting system, the organization has to invest in obtaining the most appropriate accounting software that is simple to understand and clear to all users and also secure in terms of filling all the loop holes that are identified in the system. However, the system should be flexible to allow adjustments and changes in the industry or in the organization in future. This will save on the cost of acquiring another new system after a while which might translate to be expensive in future (Mathiensen, 2009). The management of the organization should work closely with employees to identify new markets and new methods of improving the operations which may include the adoption of technology to ease the operations and save on time and cost. The business also should update its employees on new ways of customer service to ensure customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in order to improve the image of the organization in the market (Hjalager, 2012). Any organization has key stakeholders who may be primary/ internal or secondary/external. The key primary stakeholders of this organization are top-level managers, middle-level managers, supervisors, and employees. They all support innovation in the organization and adopt any innovative ideas from employees. Secondary stakeholders include suppliers, industry regulators, customers, shareholders and the government. They all support innovation as long as their interests are not at stake. However when the innovation negatively affects them individually they reject it individually e.g. if the innovation needs standard supplies that the suppliers cannot meet then they reject the innovation (Johne, 2010). Innovation and creativity can be of importance in any organization. Any organization that adopts an innovation is bound to grow because it helps the organization to stand out from others and hence achieve most of its goals and objectives. This can be achieved through providing an environment for innovation to thrive through creating innovations box where employees can drop their innovative ideas in writing. Holding meetings that are purposely meant to generate ideas once per month. Regularly conducting brainstorming sessions to generate new ideas then identify those that are workable and implementing them. Setting an allocation in the budget for rewarding the most creative and innovative ideas employees in the annual general meeting. Going for retreats every year with an aim to suggest unique ways to improve the operations and performance of the organization. Carrying out benchmarking or exchange program with competitors that are ahead of us in the industry to learn and adapt their new ideas and ways of doing things (Getty, 2007). Briefing Performance is the most important aspect of any organization. Ensure you incorporate a new idea in your tasks every day with an aim to improve performance. Avoid and minimise error as much as possible. Ensure you incorporate teamwork in every step of your tasks. It works better when we have ideas as many as the members of a team. Consult before you take action and communicate the decision to every person that need this information to avoid misunderstanding among team members or members of the organization (Chen, 2009). Action plan The primary objective of the action plan is to improve the performance of the organization. To identify the unique ideas among team members. To encourage innovation among team members. To cultivate the culture of creativity in the organization. This implementation action will be monitored for a period of one year to establish its effectiveness. All the ideas generated should be scrutinized to identify the best and the ones that can be implemented within the budget. The generation of ideas should be communicated to all stakeholders in meetings and other platforms (Hjalager, 2012). Continuous improvement will be promoted through the implementation of viable ideas and be making a review of the same. This should be accompanied by correction of variances to align them with the set objectives. Ensure the values of teamwork are upheld in order to improve performance. Brainstorming of ideas regularly to ensure generation of new ideas and rectifying of the existing ones to fit changes in the industry (Johne 2010). Monitoring will be through supervision to ensure the plan is met. Carrying out performance appraisal through analysis of profits and calculating ratios, review of the increase of customers and relating it to the objectives of the action plan (Getty2007). List of References Amabile, T.M. - "How to kill creativity", - Harvard Business Review, September-October 2011 Chen, W. J., "Innovation in hotel services: Culture and personality", International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30, 2009 Getty, J. M. & Getty, R. L, - Lodging Quality Index (LQI): Assessing customers' perceptions of quality delivery. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 15, 2007, No. 2, pp. 94-104, Hjalager, A. M., - "A review of innovation research in tourism", Tourism Management, 31, 2012. Johne, A., C. Storey - "New Service Development: A Review of Literature and Annotated Bibliography", European Journal of Marketing, 32, 2010. Mathiensen G. E., S. Einarsen - "A review of instruments assessing creative and innovative environments within organization creativity", Research Journal, vol. 16, no.1, 2009. Read More