Contemporary Hospitality Management - Essay Example

Running Head: Contemporary Hospitality Management Contemporary Hospitality Management of the of the Contemporary Hospitality Management One f the most crucial activities that take place during project management is planning. In the case f Hallam Hotel where general manager Chris Smith has tough challenge to upgrade 50 per cent f the total available guest rooms, David Firth model f change can play great role. Projects are destined to fail if adequate attention is not given to planning the scope, the timing f activities, and project costs. "A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there." H.Stanley Judd. According to Firth model starting a project with a good plan is like mapping out the course the project will take. A good plan tells you which direction to go, what turns to take, and what to do if you run into a bump that causes you to take a detour. Regardless f the size, type or duration f a project, a good plan will you from beginning to end and it will help increase the likelihood that your project will be successfully managed and completed. Definition f planning and control "Planning is the process f establishing aims and objectives and choosing a course f action to ensure that they are achieved. This process serves to bridge the gap between where an organisation currently is and where it would like to be." (Tiernan, 2001: 117) But, as Firth's model says, planning cannot be seen as independent part f management. Firth likened the relationship between planning and control to a pair f scissors - the scissors cannot work unless there are two blades. "The control process involves measuring progress towards planned performance and, where necessary, applying corrective measures so that performance can be improved. Therefore, control is concerned with making sure that goals and objectives are attained. It is strongly related to planning in that for control to occur objectives and plans have to be available against which to measure performance. Similarly, planning cannot function effectively if there are no control mechanisms to correct deviations from plans." (Tiernan, 2001: 289) Types f planning In Hallam Hotel case, as planning is a basic element involved in getting the proper output f an operation, it needs to be discussed and explained in depth. Here I will observe a brief structural analysis f planning as regards the hotel management aspect. There are three main types f planning: 1. Strategic planning involves issues f strategic direction and normally takes place at the top level f organisation. Strategic planning is usually used for a long - term orientation s basic mission establishing organisational, standards and objectives. For the Hilton Group, where I am currently employed, the main strategic direction would be spreading, increasing and multiplying the number f hotels over a specific timeframe e.g. Hilton Airport under construction on Malahide road. As an example f planning organisational standards and objectives I would call the decision f top management f Hilton Group to divide the Hilton hotels into two categories: "premium" and "select" where each f them is getting its own standards. 2. Tactical planning focuses on the current operations f the various parts f the organisation and has a medium - term orientation. This type f planning takes place at middle - management level. It serves for formulating tactical plans (which are strongly related to strategic plans) to achieve strategic objectives and outlining roles and responsibilities to meet specific targets. An example f tactical planning would be interpreting a plan to divide Hilton hotels into two categories taken by top management f Hilton Group that I can observe in Hilton Dublin. When Hilton Dublin was awarded with "premium" category our General Manager was given a list f specific standards to be achieved. As a result f outlining roles and responsibilities each department got its own tasks to be done by certain time. 3. Operational planning is concerned with short - time planning f day - to - day Functions where there is a need to take immediate action. It is usually undertaken by front - line managers or supervisors who are in a position to make plans about short - term operations. Operational planning involves establishing departmental targets, budgets and specific ways f actions to achieve tactical plans. In this case each head f department makes his/her own plans to achieve desirable result. For instance to correspond with "premium" category Hilton Dublin must have in room stereo system. To get it done the manager f the accommodation department should set the timeframe, number f staff, budget, etc. On every stage in developing plans any organisation must analyse its internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to the external opportunities and threats that confront it. The assessment f an organisation s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is called a SWOT Analysis. Every organisation should be aware f its strengths and weaknesses in order to capitalise on them. According to Johnson and Scholes (1993) a SWOT analysis involves three related steps: 1. Identification f the current strategy that the organisation is following. Managers should identify current aims and strategies in order to determine that the organisation is moving in the correct direction. 2. Identification f the key changes in the organisation s external environment. In order to do it, organisation should analyse both its macro and task environment, focusing on the relative importance f each f the components f the organisation and the extent to which they are changing. It is also known as a PEST analysis: Political - legal, Economic, Socio - cultural, Technological. 3. A resource profile f the organisation should be used to identify the key strengths and weaknesses in the following areas: Human resources, Financial resources, Organisational resources and Technological resources. Human resource analysis should consider the structure and quality f the workforce. It can be used to retain staff. Sometimes staff will not hesitate to leave the job once they understand that they are getting far better benefits at the same position in a neighbouring hotel. Financial resource analysis includes auditing the financial structure and borrowing capacity f the organisation. Organisational resource analysis examines the strengths and weaknesses f each business unit and department. An organisation must take an immediate action if any shortcomings were found. Technological resource analysis decides whether an organisation needs to acquire the latest technology. It must consider the level f production costs, which have to be traded against the cost f new technology. One f the main aims f an internal analysis is that it helps the organisation in better understanding where it can develop a competitive advantage. It should carry out on a permanent basis, and in my case keep a constant check policy over other hotels in the area for any reasons beneficial to Hilton hotel. Importance f control Planning is the basic and most important factor for the desired output to an operation, without proper planning it is f no use to expect any positive result. Therefore planning is undertaken by all managers, irrespective f their position in the organisation. Only by planning the organisation can decide what form f organisational structure, what people, what form f leadership and what means f control will be most effective. A project will not be successfully completed unless someone is responsible for controlling its progress. And this person is usually a manager. In an organisation, control is the function f managers at every level. As already mentioned the control process strongly related to planning and concerned with ensuring the efficient and effective achievement f organisational goals and objectives. The first step in the control process is the establishment f performance standards. As an example the Hilton Group has designed a set f rules or format in providing guest services. These are refered to as Hilton Brand standards. Each service area has these "golden" rules. It includes acknowledging f the guest by the name, responding on the phone call in certain time, delivering the order in certain time, etc. The second step in the control process is accurately measuring actual performance against standards set. At Hilton hotels actual performance is checked through a "Mystery guest" survey, which happens approximately four times a year on each property. This process involves a "guest" staying in the hotel and measuring all services provided against the Brand standards. The results are then given back to General Manager in a breakdown format for easy understanding f where that property is not complying with the organisational standards. Where a significant deviation has occurred managers should take corrective action or revise the original standards. To continue my example if the results f "Mystery guest" audit are unacceptable manager should introduce staff training, probably change procedures or even take disciplinary actions. An organisation can also revise the standards if it is felt that they are unacceptable or unrealistic. Having either taken corrective action or revised standards the organisation needs to feed back the lessons learned from the process. The planning and control process According to Berry and Jarvis (1997), "planning involves the determination f objectives and expressing how they are to be attained. The control process is the means f ensuring that the plans will be achieved." The planning and control process have been identified as several stages: determine the business objectives; make strategic and operating decisions; monitor and revise plans. Although planning and control are two distinct concepts, they should not be examined in isolation because a good budgeting system must provide for both planning and control. Good planning without effective control is time wasted and only when planning is laid down is it possible to implement control. (Ray H. Garrison, 1991) The process rivets on short-term budgeting aspects, that is, one year. According to McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2002, pp 366 - 369), the following step provides the tasks which management should take into account within that period to achieve Hallam Hotel's goals. First f all, a budget committee should be formed to supervise and take responsibility for the budget-setting process. (McLaney, E. and Atrill, P., 2002). Jane Black, the management accountant; David Parish, the general manager; Rod Bassett, the marketing manager and other senior manager f functional department such as logistic, public relations should be comprised in the committee. Qualified accountants should be hired to be budget officers to take responsibility for carrying out the proper procedures in budgeting. In order to draft out budgets, the budget committee should make sure every managers have a clear understanding f their planning. There should not be any discordant objective between each department. At the same time, each manager needs to pay attention to the change f the external environment in which they will operate. 'What is the hotel able to earn in the budget period' Such question outlines the limits to the budget period. There may be that the room occupancy cannot be pushed exceed a certain amount. It might be the hotel could not provide as much as enough service for that, or the hotel does has enough resources for servicing, but it cannot attract as much guest as it can provide the service. Therefore what the limiting factors are in the hotel should be primarily established. There are two kind f limiting factor: manpower and resources. Manpower includes all the persons from the upper management to the ordinary staffs employed in the hotel. Only all f these people have enough knowledge and technology to be qualified, the budgeting program could be implemented with great efficiency and speed. And it is also out f question to be well satisfied with the guests. Recourses include all the fixed asset and current assets f hotel. Hallam Hotel has a vast landscaped garden and one hundred rooms to offer. And also it has nice and sufficient facilities to service, such as the gourmet restaurant, bistro and health club. I assume that all these facilities are well enough to attract the guest. But as the major competitor, Sandhill Lodge, has first-class conference facilities which can be more competitive than Highgrove Manor. As a four-star rating hotel, it seems that conference facilities improvement should be carried out by Hallamto remain competition. Besides these, the finances available to the hotel and the market condition seem to impose a major limit to Hallam hotel. As the fall in market value which has been brought about by the slump in property prices. Interest has been raised by the bank, which increases the burdens f repaying. And it seems that the conference trade has fallen and the bistro keeps on losing money because f the major competitor, Sandhill Lodge. Thus a shortage f funds is likely to be the most crucial problem to Highgrove Manor. These entire limit factors will affect the budgets, so all the managers should identify the whole possible limit factors at the very beginning f the process. References Berry, A. and Jarvis, R. (1997), Accounting in a Business Context, third edition, International Thomson Business Press. McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2002) Accounting: an introduction, Prentice Hall Europe. Ray H. Garrison (1991) Managerial Accounting, sixth edition, Richard D, Irwin. Firth, David. (1999) Smart things to know about change. Capstone Publishing. Ltd. Modern Managemant, 2nd. Ed. (2001) Tiernan,S., Morley, M., Foley,E. Read More