Situation Summary
The Regency Grand was run and owned by Thais. It delivered an excellent performance. During its 15-year history, it was a profitable and successful business with high employee morale. Employees carried out their duties by management’s directives. Employees were not permitted to be innovative or creative in their work. All choices were made by management. Its general manager retired, and John Becker, the manager of an American hotel company, took over as general manager. Becker has a track record of success in the hotel industry. Therefore, he was assigned the task of managing this hotel as well. John has worked for the American firm for ten years. John was chosen for the position because of his previous success in integrating newly acquired hotels in the United States.
Previously, staff was not allowed to be creative or imaginative, but Becker changed that by empowering the hotel’s employees. For the staff, it is a positive and motivating decision because they can now make many decisions on their own, which they were not allowed to do under the former management. They began working but soon realized that their superiors would not allow them to make any decisions, and they became demotivated, negatively impacting the hotel’s performance and profitability. The hotel’s performance deteriorated, which concerned the general manager. Employee morale suffered due to his adjustments, as did absenteeism, consumer complaints, and negative media coverage.
Situation Diagnosis
Personality and organizational fit; stress; job satisfaction; job design and role ambiguity; absenteeism; decision-making process and power hierarchy; and significant staff turnover are some of the primary signs showing some really serious concerns in the hotel. When the hotel was sold to an American hotel chain, some workers were transferred to other roles. Employees that were relocated may not have the necessary skills and ability to perform the full range of new tasks. Because of the exercise of empowerment, some supervisors and other employees believe they are losing control (McShane & Von Glinow, 2017). After that, several of them quited their jobs. The size of a major or minor issue is the key issue in the hotel. There is no clear definition, description, or criterion for what constitutes a major issue.
Another difficulty in the hotel is that many supervisors still handle minor issues independently, rather than delegating responsibility to employees. This is a waste of time for them. Becker is not great at giving subordinates minor decision-making instructions. When management disagrees with employee ideas, a conflict arises (Kay & Skarlicki, 2020). John implemented extensive adjustments that had previously worked for newly bought hotels. Becker squandered the opportunity to plan and implement change. He did not involve any of his employees in the change process, and he did not hire a change agent to oversee the transition at the newly bought hotel. John made his selections based on what had worked in the past in American business. This scenario has various concerns, but culture, change, and communication are the most significant ones. John Becker and the Regency team received no culture training from the American-based corporation. John Becker had no strategy for the adjustments he made. Finally, but most importantly, there was a lack of communication throughout the firm.
Empowerment Option for Regency Grand Hotel
With the help of successful and effective communication strategies, including a complete opinion sphere to ensure understanding of changes and new needs on an organizational as well as individual level for all employees, the main problems encountered during the acquisition of the Regency Hotel may have been avoided or at least significantly reduced. To guarantee a successful implementation of the new system, all three factors, namely cultural, personal, and organizational, should be considered, and changes to work design and job functions. The hotel is currently in flux, with low employee retention, status, and profit.
The case’s main issues revolve around ineffectively handled organizational change. The distinction between the newly integrated workers and various reports was not addressed. Despite this, the new general manager did not utilize a communication strategy that considered the disparities in management and staff cultures. Other issues that the hotel faced included an unclear decision-making process and power chain and a lack of sufficient evaluation of the probability of achieving the empowerment strategy’s goals.
Employees at the hotel also had to deal with social and emotional conflicts. The hotel’s power incidents, such as the source of electricity, were not properly established. Because of these issues, there were a lot of turnovers, a lot of stress, and a lot of absenteeism (Idris et al., 2018). Becker did not explain his expectations during a staff meeting with management, nor did he guarantee that every manager grasped the tool empowerment. If tasks such as John’s expectations, standards, regulations, and terminology such as the difference between large and minor difficulties were adequately communicated, managers would not overturn employees’ decisions, according to the MARS model. Employee decisions were overruled by management, leading to a rise in absenteeism, turnover, and customer complaints, all of which contributed to a degradation in service in the eyes of the media.
New Decision-Making Process at Regency Grand Hotel
Alternatives to improve performance are listed below. First, creating a manager/employee handbook to explain the company’s standards, norms, and expectations and define what constitutes big and minor decisions is useful (Dos Santos et al., 2018). Second, comment sections for improved recommendations, comments, and open dialogue should be provided. 360-degree scoring of managers/employees, such as online questionnaires and employee performance appraisals, might be helpful. Next, lines of contact within the organization, such as an open-door policy and the first option, should be opened. Through meetings, the entire team in the decision-making process to meet the needs of both management and employees could be involved.
Transition to Self-Managed Teams
This approach advocates for both management and employee feedback. People must inform the entire team of the change, listen to their concerns, and allow anonymous input. Having a facilitator oversee this process after meeting with management is needed to explain the change after the management staff has been brought on board (Gerpott et al., 2019). According to the general manager, employees should be involved with the same notion as management. Involve the entire team in the development of the guide’s ideas. The duty of generating the manuals should be assigned to a specific team, including both management and staff.
This option includes open communication, staff training, and handbooks for managers and employees that describe expectations, norms, and standards. It also includes the services of a professional to oversee the procedure. As outlined in the instance, successful and effective change management practices should now be provided to employees to assist them in establishing a new organizational culture and integrating the empowerment plan. Employee empowerment is a powerful strategy for increasing decision-making power and leadership value. Becker’s intention to adopt empowerment was admirable, but how he did so was not.
References
Dos Santos, P. H., Neves, S. M., Sant’Anna, D. O., de Oliveira, C. H., & Carvalho, H. D. (2019). The analytic hierarchy process supporting decision making for sustainable development: An overview of applications. Journal of cleaner production, 212, 119-138.
Gerpott, F. H., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Voelpel, S. C., & Van Vugt, M. (2019). It’s not just what is said, but when it’s said: A temporal account of verbal behaviors and emergent leadership in self-managed teams. Academy of Management Journal, 62(3), 717-738.
Idris, A., See, D., & Coughlan, P. (2018). Employee empowerment and job satisfaction in urban Malaysia: Connecting the dots with context and organizational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Kay, A. A., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2020). Cultivating a conflict-positive workplace: How mindfulness facilitates constructive conflict management. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 159, 8-20.
McShane, S., & Glinow, M. A. V. (2017). Organizational behavior. McGraw-Hill Education.