Facilitating Continuous Improvement - Assignment Example

Facilitate Continuous Improvement Name: Institutional Affiliation Facilitate Continuous Improvement My organization of choice is the QT Sydney hotel that has continued to experience significant growth over the years and presently one of the best hotels in Australia. This has resulted to the hotel receiving international recognitions as one of the world’s best designer hotels [Ama13]. So as to achieve further growth. I feel that one of the best ways to improve the growth even further is through improving efficiency and improving the sale. This will mainly require the support of the Human Resource Department and the Accounting. This will go a long way in enabling the hotel perform better and have a better financial performance. This is because the company has the potential of attaining better performance and higher profitability rate. Question 1 There are 3 main ways in which we will be able to establish the various departments’ procedures in dealing with the continuous improvement system. This will involve 3 main steps Analysis, Eliminating the root cause and evaluation Analysis Analysis will mainly involve the beginning and the endpoints. For example an analysis of the sales process will mainly involve identifying the needs of the customer, convincing the customers, suggesting certain offers, and closing the sale [Dug14]. It is important the department analyses the situation effectively so as to be able to tackle the issues appropriately. The continuous improvement process examines individual steps to determine the exact place where the problem exists. Eliminating the Main Cause Before eliminating the root cause, the team should identify the main causes of the inefficiencies and what causes the sales to be lower than the target [McE08]. Failure to eliminate the root cause only causes the problem to surface in another areas. Because of this, it is important that the root cause is identified and dealt with effectively so as do away with the issues. By the departments questioning why things occur, the department will be able to design a plan to tackle the problem [Dug14]. In this case the team can survey the customers and determine what else they can do to attract more customers and hence increase the sales. It is also important that the main cause of inefficiencies are discovered and this can be achieved by comparing the present and past performance by the organization. It is from this situations that the team is able to devise solutions and hence improve the performance of the Hotel. Evaluation In order to determine a continuous improvement process also involves various metrics to determine the level of success. Some of the main metrics that organizations or department can use include customer satisfaction, number of individuals take to do a certain task, cost per a given order [Bra99]. These tools may seem minor actions but do work magic for most organization regardless of whether big or small. All organizations need to gauge themselves. The time frame for gauging varies different organization and among various industries. There exist organizations that analyze their performance weekly, some monthly, quarterly, semiannually or even annually [Dug14]. All these are critical criteria when it comes to gauging. However, it is important to realize the lesser the time frame between which organization conduct their gauging process the easier it is for the organization to identify the errors and rectify them. This can be achieved using tools such as the Pareto which helps in sorting data into a visual chart that enables the mangers to determine whether the biggest problem can be adjusted by improvements. Further research has shown that about 80% of the negative effects businesses tend to experience mainly originate from 20% of the causes [Dug14]. Question 2 How to encourage the team members to participate in the decision making process So as to be able to encourage participation among the other group members, the leader should be also be willing engage in participative management [Bra99]. Participative management is what gives rise to participative decision making. Participative decision making refers to the situation where the leaders encourage and allow their team members to participate and share the organization decision making process. The level of participation can range between o and 100% [McE08]. There exists techniques in which leaders can use so as to enhance participative decision making. I will be able to enhance participative decision making in four main ways. This will involve information sharing, training, employee decision making and rewards. Information sharing mainly involves keeping the team members informed about the economic condition of the company. This most times make the team members feel valued and thus enabling them to open up in case they have a different opinion on the matter. Training them will also play a big role in enabling the team members engage in participative decision making. Training mainly involves raising the skills levels of the employees and hence offering them a developmental opportunity hence will be more able to make effective decisions that facilitate continuous improvement [Mik14]. Research has shown that employees that tend to engage in training, tend to be more confident thus make effective decisions I believe that that through training my team members to further their skill, they will be able to easily identify the inefficiencies that exist in the hotel and also identify the ways in which they can boost sales. The other way in which I will be able to enhance participative decision making is through providing a rewarding system. Rewarding systems have been always been used in organizations so as to be able to improve the relationship between the employees and their employers [Mik14]. This has also had the effect of encouraging participation among the employees. This will motivate the team members to be more open and also facilitate continuous improvement in decision. I believe that through this steps, I will be able to enhance participation among the team members and hence achieve a better performance. Participative decision making plays a key role in facilitating continuous improvement with the department or the organization. Question 3 Communication plays a vital role in our organizations regardless of the type of business. In fact it is right to state that communication is the key to success in any organization [McE08]. This therefore makes it a crucial tool in facilitating the organization’s continuous improvement process. Cooperation among the team members can only be maintained through communication. It is important to identify the best modes of communication. The mode of communication should be convenient and effective in that it allows opportunity for fast feedback from the other members of the organization [Mik14]. The main forms of communication that I will utilize include; face to face communications, email, telephone and video. Face To Face communication As much as there exists significant advancement in technology, this will never replace the benefits gained from face to face communication. This form of communication is always critical especially when there is doubt or there is clarification to be made. Face to face communication enables the leader express his emotions and through gestures and thus the team members are able to get a clear picture of what is expected from them. This also gives the team members to state their concerns and ideas on what they feel will facilitate the continuous improvement process. This can occur within the organization or even outside the organization. The venue should not be the main concern but rather the message. Email The second form of communication is the email. It can be noted that the email has revolutionized communication environment in the organization significantly, more than any other communication device. This is because the email is a fast and efficient means of communication and also keeps a record of the communication. This will be very helpful in situation where the members of the team are far away and one would want to communicate a crucial information to the other parties. Thus I find email as also one of the best modes of communication so as to facilitate the continuous improvement process. Telephone. Telephone is one of the oldest modes of communication in the offices. They are very significant especially in situations where there is urgency or the employer is far away. However, unlike email, telephone allows for more personal communication is especially in times where matters have to be handled in private and without anyone noticing in any way. This can be very helpful to me and enable me to pass vital information fast and conveniently without disrupting other individuals activities. I believe that this will play a significant role in facilitating continuous in the organization. Video With the advancement in technology, a meeting can be held among individuals that are in different continents and that has facilitated the ease in communication and also played a significant role in ensuring that the goals of the organization are achieved. In the present day it inexpensive to have video communication among various individuals in different places. I believe that this will be a crucial tool of communication. One of the most readily available devices that one can use to facilitate is the IPad which shouldn’t especially if it is being purchased by an organization. All these forms of communications are crucial and that some can be used together so as to facilitate the achievement the organization’s goals. References Ama13: , (Amalgamated HoldingS Limited, 2013), Dug14: , (Duggan, 2014), McE08: , (McEwan, Atcher, & Graham, 2008), Bra99: , (Bravener, 1999), Mik14: , (Mikes, Landry, & Alumina, 2014), Read More