Organisation Change & Development

• Internal Code :
• Subject Code : BBMM603
• University :
• Subject Name : organisational deveopment and change managment

Report - Beach Palace Hotel  (A change management proposal)

Executive summary

The report aims at identifying the prevailing issues in the Beach Palace Hotel regarding its losses and the poor work culture forcing employees to leave. It identifies the problem, illustrates why a change is needed in the hotel and discusses two probable change models that can be used to implement the changes and gives importance to one of the model which is suitable for the hotel to use. The reasons to change are also identified and the barriers to change which are responsible and probable causes of resistance in the team and a suggestion are provided to Sammy. 

Problem identification

The Singapore based hotel chain has been renamed as the Beach Palace Hotel as a new brand name company. The hotel hired staff from various countries and diverse backgrounds with the lower skilled jobs usually being performed by the local inhabitants of the location and most of the management positions being held by non-locals of which there are people from New Zealand as well as Australia. The top general manager, the food and beverages manager has left the chain. The hotel has been suffering an economic slowdown and is even struggling to break even. It has not been able to stand up to its motto of providing a world class service to its guests. The social and interpersonal relationships and interactions between amongst the staff are usually divided in the national as well as ethnic lines and backgrounds. People don’t tend to communicate with people who are from a different background. Sammy Chan joined in as the new general manager and is known for some reputed management skills. Several other managers have also joined and have been given the responsibility to bring the hotel back on track. The challenge lies in building a new team altogether despite of such diverse backgrounds and philosophies. Sammy has outlined the company’s new mission statement which throws lime light on providing quality, retaining pride and humility. All the managers have different issues regarding the working of the hotel, whether it is the construction of a new bar near the guest swimming pool, providing a singer at the bar or getting consultation from the new food and beverage manager.  The problem lies in getting everyone on the same page and making them believe that they are together in moving the hotel up the ladder. The manager needs to make the staff understand that they might be from different geographical regions but their aim is the same and they must not let their background and culture come in between the goal of the hotel chain. The manager will have to implement certain practices which can help him to build relationships between the employees as well as manage the different departments effectively (Folz, 2016). 

Reasons for change

What is the change required?

The change required is to shape the complete culture of the hotel, starting from the new managers been appointed, the existing staff from different backgrounds and culture. Transforming the complete work ethics of the staff from interactions to working method and guest treatment. Everything needs a complete shift. The hotel must start satisfying its guests and provide the best services in order to retain them as well as earn profit. 

Why is the change needed?

Organizational culture provides the basis for understanding the differences which exists in the successful and unsuccessful hotel chains. The challenge for the Manager lies in assessing the perceptions of the staff members regarding the current organizational work culture, to identify the needs of the staff to determine the required organizational culture as well as to ascertain the differences in the current and the required operations. The Beach Palace is facing an issue when it comes to its human resource requirement. The general manager and the food and beverage manager who were from France have left the place as well as the head chef of the hotel. The hotel is facing an economic slowdown and is not able to earn profit. The major problem lies in the culture of the hotel where the staff is divided on the basis of their social and cultural backgrounds. The general manager has to reshape the culture of the hotel as well as make sure that the hotel is able to get more clients and is able to provide them with the best service available. 

Cultural change is really important in any organization as it controls the organizational expression, it shapes the values and believes which will form the foundation of the work ethics and practices of an organization, define the behavior of the employees, builds the image of the company in the minds of the customers (Rick, 2014). Shaping the culture in an effective way shapes the brand identity which is really crucial for any hotel to operate. It is what makes the hotel brand unique and gives a special edge in the market. The managers of the hotel are also not on the same page, half of them are arguing about the changes in the services and the issues faced by the staff in various departments. Changing the current pessimistic and complaining culture will help the manager in increasing loyalty of the employees by providing them with the right environment to work in enabling them to deliver their best for the guests (Patel, 2017). 

Barriers to change

Evidence

With an observation it is evident that there exists a resistance to change in the organization. Life at the Beach Palace Hotel has changed for the staff altogether,

• The staff is divided by the means of culture, backgrounds and ethnic lines.

• The European, Australasian staff which speaks mostly in French, German and English tends to be around the small staff and are not willing to interact with others. 

• Employees from India, China, Sri Lanka also tend to stick with their own groups.

• Hotel is not living up to the standards promised by it earlier and is not able to earn profit. 

• The new managers are not willing to negotiate with each other on the various issues of facility location.

• Almost every manager is complaining about the problems in their individual departments rather than focusing on the bigger picture. 

Reasons

Greta who is the Finance and administration manager is worried whether the staff will be able to deliver and perform with only five weeks of leave which has been reduced from having six weeks of leave earlier. Betty who is the accommodation manager blames Billy of claiming his staff as the best because the tough job is to be done by the other departments. According to him as far as entertaining the guests is concerned, it is an easy job to do. Silas the facilities manager is complaining about the generator being broken again and repairing it again and again is a major issue for his department and it is not willing to spend time and energy on the same generator again and again. Whereas, Raj the food and beverages manager is trying to make sure that the pressure on his department is the highest. The whole team of the managers is trying to portray themselves as the victims of worst working conditions. The staff is also divided in the groups of ethnicity and culture restraining them from building interactions and building interpersonal relationships. 

Change model attributes

Based on our analysis of the situation at Beach Palace, we can propose two models of change that can be facilitated to build an effective team and staff. 

1. The Lewin’s change management model 

To implement any major change in the organization it is really important to understand why the change must take place first (Tools, n.d.).There are three stages in the Lewin’s model – 

Unfreeze stage – The first stage involves preparing the organization mentally to accept and face the change, which involves breaking the structure before a complete new structure is formed and implemented. The step is to demonstrate that the existing procedure and work culture cannot exist and take the company forward. 

Change – Once the uncertainty is created then the change process is implemented and people begin to adjust and work in the new process and work culture. They start believing that the change is comfortable and they start resolving their issues gradually. 

Refreeze – Once the changes are implemented the company and the management team starts to refreeze the process in order to declare that the new and current process is the final work culture for the company and everyone must adhere to it. 

2. Appreciative inquiry

It is a collaborative strength based approach for implementing a change in organizations and human systems. Over time it has become increasingly important for hotels to improve efficiency in order to survive and perform better. According to this approach each human resource of a company has a positive strength which can help the company grow. There are four stages identified in the process of appreciative inquiry – 

Discover, Dream, Design and Delivery all of which provides the frame work for identifying what is best, what could be best, what can be done to achieve that best (Moore, 2019). 

Change model proposed

We recommend Beach Palace Resort to adapt the Lewin’s change management model in order to develop and change the approach of its staff. Change is a common thread used by many hotels to implement new methods of working, attract new customers as well as retain the existing ones. If Sammy wants to transform the hotel and bring it back where it was he must identify what is existing and creating a problem for the guests and what can be implemented in order to earn revenue. In the first stage of unfreeze he should clearly communicate the vision and mission statement for the hotel. The staff should be made realized of the mistakes which they are doing, where the hotel is going wrong and what is causing them to miss out on profit, why the employees are leaving the job. All this will urge them to spend a thought on having a change in the organization work culture and ethics. 

In the second stage Sammy should implement change by directing Bettey, Greta, Silas, Raj and Billy to set standards in their various departments respectively and keep a regular check on the work and progress of them. As the new owners are investing millions in the resort there are plans to renovate the swimming pool, tennis courts as well as golf clubs. Other facilities like the generator repair can also be done if the fund allocation and the budget approves. There should be upgradation and development of technological methods that can track the performance of each employee and department. Performance based salary and remuneration should be implemented. Any suggestions or additions should be welcome from the employees. Employees should be motivated to communicate with people from different backgrounds and culture, team based activities should be conducted which will allow employees to interact with others and involve everyone as a team. New standards and targets should be set for each department in order to develop a healthy workplace for employees and a place to be remembered by the guests. 

The final stage would include Sammy establishing these changes as practices and letting the flow of the hotel flow smoothly. Constant repetition will allow the managers to make employees feel comfortable in the process. 

References

Folz, C. 2016. How to change organizational culture. [Online]. Available at: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/1016/pages/how-to-change-your-organizational-culture.aspx [Accessed on 12 September 2019]. 

Rick, T. 2014. Organizational cultural change needed. [Online]. Available at: https://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/culture/is-organizational-culture-change-needed/ [Accessed on 12 September 2019]. 

Patel, S. 2017. Importance of building culture in an organization. [Online]. Available at: https://www.inc.com/sujan-patel/importance-of-building-culture-in-your-organization.html [Accessed on 12 September 2019].

Tools, M.  n.d. Lewin’s change management. [Online]. Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm [Accessed on 12 September 2019]. 

Moore, C. 2019. Appreciative Inquiry. [Online]. Available at: https://positivepsychology.com/appreciative-inquiry/ [Accessed on 12 September 2019].