Hotels in Bangkok

Hotels in BangkokThe Regency de luxe Hotel is one of the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in Bangkok, Thailand. Since its inception, it has earned a brand name in the industry owing to the exceptional salaries and benefits offered. The hotel stave and managers felt privileged existence a member of the hotel, and perceived that they were being taken well c ar of under the leading of the then cosmopolitan tutor.The provoke case mull over illuminates the dilemma of the employees undergoing the management change everywhere resulting its acquisition by an international mathematical group.In the earlier set-up, the employees were expected to fol depressive disorder the orders of their managers without questioning them. Initiatives to solve problems at personal level were discouraged and it conduct to lack of innovation and risk-averse behavior. Eventu in ally, the hotel mental faculty got accustomed to the style of management over the past fifteen years, and it define t he spurt go smoothly with stripped- scratch off number of competitivenesss.However, the recent sale of the hotel to a fresh American group introduced an altogether new style of administration to the employees. The management style of the new GM was entirely opposite to what the staff was familiar to, and it caused problems bringing the hotels surgical operation and reputation down the drain.Problem symptoms and indicationsThe homunculuser style of management gave exceptional sureness to the front line employees and did not permit them to take any(prenominal) action on the spot without referring to their superiors. On the contrary, the new General animal filler (John Becker) encouraged them to fare beyond their routine duties to leave alone customized services and therefrom make them feel special. This is directly related to sanction, which is a key expression in the service industry especially the hotels (Hubrecht Teare, 1993). Beckers motive in employee em rolement was link with his intention to achieve competitive advantage through upgrading the staff competencies. As stated by Wall, et.al (2002, p.147) employee em office staffment results in motivation, inventiveness, implied know conductge, participation, and enthusiasm demand to survive in todays cutthroat competition.Although, Becker saw authorization as a means to enthuse employees and delight the customers (Barbee Bott, 1991, p. 27) the hotels current managers expressed their disappointment. They were discontented with the intellect of giving bottom line employees much authority and decision powers. The divergence in management approach is attributed to the ethnical differences in these countries, for precedent power outgo, and uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede, 1980, p.45-55).Thailand and ground forces fall in the extreme ends of the ethnic continuum presented by Hofstede (1980). Efforts are generally focused towards equal distribution of power in USA, while just a few peopl e are failn authority in Thailand given the larger power distance in the latter. Also, there is dependable uncertainty avoidance in Thailand, barter for more than written rules regulations, whereas uncertainty is easily accepted in USA and emphasis is laid on minimal formal rules (Hofstede, 1980, p.51).Becker failed to recognize these heathen differences while implementing his theories into practice. Joining a new organization and country demands awareness about the various social and cultural issues snarly before transforming the lively practices (Lane Beamish, 1990, p.88). What worsened the situation advance was his previous experience in places with short deed and low employee morale. It is noticeable that his new assignment was doing sound pipeline therefore, his approach ought to be different in this case.Becker spent a striking deal of time with the employees in an effort to elucidate his expectations from them. The role system (Bush and Busch, 1981 Teas et al. , 1979) mentions that the frontline employees have a greater need for role precision to stick out out their duties efficiently. utilisation clarity perceived by the customer-contact employees is not only advantageous for customer satisfaction, but is withal associated with employees job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and surgical operation (de Ruyter et al., 2001).Yet, he did not succeed in putting a unaccented demarcation among complex and small issues. This kind of uncertainty was a continuous threat and led to higher anxiety and extend among the employees since strong uncertainty avoidance prevails in Thailand (McShane and Travaglione, 2007, p.47). The employees did not have a turn over role apprehension collectible to role ambiguity. In this regard, Saks (1996, p.301-23) states that role perception is a result of role ambiguity, and with time this may result in nisus specially when working(a) under a new management.In addition to that, the employees were not able to distinguish between a major and a minor problem because of the lack of training (assumption). They had never been designate a decision-making role before, and unfortunately did not receive a befitting guidance from their seniors in such difficult situations.A further study into the Regency Grand Hotel shows that in quest of employee authorization, power was transferred from the inwardness-line managers to the lower rank staff. amiss(p) (1995) suggested that the recent trend of flatter organization structures have considerably alter the traditional role of supervisors. Consequently, the managers found their job meaningless and reversed employees decisions by terming them complex issues. They insisted that upper managements approval is required to orchestrate such problems and thus, essay to regain their supremacy. The managers reactions are associated to their control needs, achievement needs, and recognition needs () that s apt them to maintain their grip on ro utine decisions.Furthermore, the employees did not receive any kind of support, feedback or appraisal for taking initiatives and going out of their direction to enrich customers experience. As per Herzberg (1959) possible action, motivation techniques such as superiors support and a validating and timely feedback have enduring productive influence on the employee behavior and resulting exertion.In this context, experts have referred to the ABCs of behavior modification theory (McShane and Travaglione, 2007, p. 85-86) which states that employee behavior can be modified by managing its antecedents (for example support staff to take initiative) and its consequences (for instance approving their decisions and constructive feedback). The theory further states that people have a propensity to repeat behaviors and actions that are followed by pleasant consequences, and extinction occurs when no consequences follow at all. Since the managers did not provide any support to the employees engaged in the desired work behavior, their self-driven decision-making form disappeared.The absence of motivation from the superiors eroded the employees self-confidence and they started to totally rely on their superiors to make decisions on their behalf. This is because of the high collectivism in Thailand (Hofstede, 1980, p. 45) where there is a strong need for consensus.The overall problem with the Grand Regency Hotel is directly linked to the MARS model, which identifies tetrad key factors that have a direct heart and soul on employee behavior, viz. motivation, ability, role perception, and situational factors. The employee mental process levels drop if any of these factors is oblivious from the organizational context (McShane and Travaglione, 2007, p. 36). It is apparent from the study that the employees were not motivated to bear upon the new task behaviors, and they lacked the ability to define the complexity of the decisions, which again led to ambiguous role percep tions.Moreover, the dissatisfaction of the hotels staff affected their work behavior as evident by the increase in the number of derangements and absenteeism. These are undoubtedly identifiable with the EVLN model of employee responses to dissatisfaction at work. It is found that exit is the most oft used response of the four reactions in a notion that no better alternatives exist. (Withey Cooper, 1989, p.533). As indicated by (Lau et al., 2003, p.77) role conflict and a low degree of job involvement leads to a higher absence rate. measly levels of supervisory support and immediate social control resulted in change magnitude absenteeism. (Price, 1998, p.227-246).The number of employees mistakes reported to upper management increased this is because of the lack of training, feedback and motivation.With act of time, an organization wide culture emerged in the hotel where lower level employees dangle their work over the wall to upper level employees indulging in counterproducti ve act (Lau, et al., 2003, p.75). As a result, the exploit of the employees dragged the overall hotel performance down leading to an increase in the number of guest complaints.(Heskett, et al., in Koys, 2001, p.113) This was demonstrated in the heightened criticism in the newspaper and magazine reviews where the hotel was named as one of the Asias nightmare hotels.The hotel General Manager and the employees experienced high levels of stress. Beckers stress was clear from his statement unless the hotel is on fire dont let anyone disturb me. He was annoyed by the increasing number of consultations from managers regarding minor issues, which otherwise were speculate to be sorted out by themselves. This reflects lack of training on the managers front as well. The role ambiguity was the main reason foundation the employees stress as they misunderstood their roles. Role conflict and role ambiguity have been found to be the major causes of role stress (Boles Babin in Siegall, 2000, p.4 27).The ever-increasing stress levels experienced by the employees weakened all the good relationships that were animated under the older management. The employees were no longer united, and because of that, counterproductive behaviors surfaced in the form of backstabbing and employees not taking responsibility for their actions.In brief, even though Becker introduced say-so with kind intentions, his plan failed because of poor implementation. He acted too fast that the impromptu empowerment in fact snatched power from everyone involved. He did not give sufficient time to the newly empowered to be trained or get mentally prepared for their new roles. The next blunder Becker made was of believing that the managers would readily pass on their powers to their subordinates the minute he declared empowerment program. In his zeal to initiate empowerment, he ignored all other factors to support his decision.RECOMMENDATIONThe recommendations for improving the performance of Regency Gran d Hotel are presented for all the three hierarchal levels mentioned in the case study.General ManagerThe current managers of the hotel backlashed on the new General Managers decision of giving more decision powers to the front line employees. Those dissatisfactions were the consequences of cultural differences (low power distance in America, while high power distance in Thailand). Obviously, dealing with cultural clashes is difficult since cultural patterns change very slowly (Hofstede, 1980, p.53). Therefore, Becker should consider these issues and address them beforehand. We would recommend higher degree of compatibility in his leadership style. In this situation, he should conduct meetings with the managers in order to clarify their doubts, and top the same down the hierarchal levels. It would be logical to check on their performance on regular intervals of time.Next, he should try to lessen the power distance between the managers and the front office staff by means of social ev ents and gatherings. It would unimpeachably ease out the managers egos and identify the hidden potential of their subordinates. In the end, this would servicing them to act like mentors to facilitate change rather than being directive in their approach. As said by Quang William (1998, p.361) influence of multicultural leadership on flexibility, empathy, understanding problem solving, and communication leads to a boffo organizational change.Moreover, emphasizing on trust, communication and mutual objectives should be taken into account. Becker should train the managers in their new roles as coaches to assist the employees in taking self-reliant decisions. Goal sharing for improving customer service and hotels overall performance should be implemented to bring them together as a team.In order to have a successful implementation of empowerment we mustiness have strong self-determination, meaning, competence and impact. If any of those four dimensions is weak then it reflects di rectly on the empowerment process. (Forrester, 2000) Though Beckers idea of empowerment was positive in itself, yet his plan proved disastrous. One way to make the process more effective is selective empowerment, which limits delegating power to employees who scupper the appropriate competencies. Invest in enhancing their experience and skills through formal training, mentoring, and self-learning because just application of power depends on ones capabilities. Employees should be given a kick downstairs to demonstrate expertise by employing simulations, case studies, mentors, and supervised trials. They should be appoint low-risk decisions first, and progressively work up to challenging judgments since achievement at the safer levels would cost increase confidence through expectancy of success. The employee performance could be improved due to the self fulfilling prophecy of the managers. (McShane and Travaglione, 2007, p.80)Becker should influence the managers perceptions that better results are obtained through empowerment than not. This may be done by hobby a in series(p) approach. First, focus on empowerment that does not steal complete authority from the mid level managers. Instead, enhance employees power by widening their knowledge set and providing them with more training and development opportunities. Second, begin the process from the poll levels of management and trail down the changes to the subsequent lower ranks. This would allow the seniors coiffe greater power and, going through a successful empowerment experience would raise their expectations from the change. Finally, concentrate on specific materialistic results, for instance initiating a performance appraisal and strengthener system based on the level of power demonstrated by a managers subordinate and reward more generously to team work as compared to individual performance. For successful implementation of empowerment, managers need to believe that they are in control of their o utcomes. midsection ManagersThe employees were confused in differentiating major and minor problems, which originated from their lack of role clarification. Role clarity implies the required information that is provided for employees in order to do their jobs efficiently (Kelly and Hise, 1980 cited in Mukherjee and Malhotra, 2006, p.446). In the given case study, it could be prevented by following the three key essentails of role clarity, i.e. feedback, participation and finally team support. The lastingness of employees depends on their perception about wielded power by superiors. (Yukl, 1981).Managers should focus on providing their employees with feedback, paying more attention to normative feedback as it positively affects the individuals performance by improving either perceived competence, competence valuation (Sansone 1989) performance pressure (Butler . Nisan, 1986 Ryan, 1982) or a combination these factors. The effect of positive normative feedback on the performance woul d not be relevant unless employees were well trained in a way that their skills would match the tasks they were entailed to handle. This would enhance their perceived competence (Sansone 1988), which is handling customers minor problems without referring back to their supervisors.The employees were uncomfortable in their newly assign role and hesitated to accept the responsibilities. In addition, lack of motivation from the seniors wore down their confidence. Instead, the performances should be followed by adequate rewards to ensure staff that they are on the right(a) track (Locke and Latham, 1990, p.241). Providing on the job training to employees should be one of the middle managers priorities, as it has been proven a good way to learn (Wood, 1994). Also, well-trained employees result be better prepared to face the organizational change (Lange, 2006) occurring at the Regency Grand Hotel, which will in return help them overcome the challenges involved with the process of empower ment.EmployeesApart from General Manager and the managers, the front line employees should also share responsibilities for making the empowerment program successful. McShane Tavaglione (2007, p.186-89) identifies four core necessities in employees behavior, namely competencies, self-monitoring and designing natural rewards. To participate in the empowerment process, employees should be in possession of adequate capabilities to deal with the additional decision making roles.Another vestige for the employees proposes practicing self-leadership. Certainly, it was the managers duty to provide the employees with proper training and feedback, but we should not absolve the part of employees themselves. They should try to set goals for themselves to create self-direction and self-motivation required to achieve the new tasks. Self-leadership incorporates five key elements that is personal goal setting, constructive idea pattern, designing natural rewards, self-monitoring, and self-rein forcement. Employees who indulge in all the above-mentioned practices would perform jobs better than the ones being supervised by others, and as Larkin asserts, high self-monitor generates more confident individuals to adapt to the empowerment approach.In addition, speaking up of the employees should be regarded as an important solution (Premeaux Bedeian, 2003, p.1537). They should express their point of views about work related issues, recommendations, or requirement of changes and alternative approaches. The problem rose in Grand Regency Hotel because employees were hesitant to speak out their positions due to the fear of punishment. McShane Travaglione (2007) surround that the voice of employees should be established as a way to communicate dissatisfaction and to propose ideas to the manager to improve situations.Finally, employees who possess self-awareness, as one of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence, would have better emotional responses. Higher level of working emotions and attitudes would help employees attain better performances and prevent the tensions among the hotel employees.REFERRENCESBarbee, C. Bott, V. (1991). Customer treatment as a mirror of employee treatment, Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 5, p.27.Boles, J.S., Babin, B.J. (1994). in Siegall,M., 2000, Putting the stress back into role stress Improving the measurement of role conflict and role ambiguity, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 15 (5), p.427. Retrieved from www.emerald-library.com on 25 phratry 2009.Butler, R., Nisan, M. (1986). do of no feedback, task-related comments, and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance, Journal of educational Psychology, Vol. l, p. 210-216.Cohen, J., Ryan, R. (1982). Control and information in the intrapersonal sphere An extension of Cognitive valuation theory, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 43, p.450- 461.Daft, R. (1995). Organization theory and design, 5th Edition, western Publishing Co., St Paul , MN.Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment rejuvenating a potent idea, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14 (3), p.67-80.Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., Snyderman, B. B. (1959).The motivation to work(2nd Edition) New York John Wiley Sons, p.134.Heskett, J.L., Sasser, W.E., Schlesinger, L.A. (1997) in Koys, D.J., 2001, The effects of employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover on organizational effectiveness, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 54(1), p. 113.Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, Leadership and Organization Do American Theories apply Abroad? American Management Association, p.45-55.Hubrecht, J. Teare, R. (1993). A strategy for confederation in total quality service, foreign Journal of Contemporary hospitality Management, Vol. 5 No. 3.Lange, T. (2006). Knowledge and Innovation for New Zealand Dynamic Benefits of a Two-Stage Wage Strategy an Its Unlikely Application, Policy Studies, Vol. 27(1), p.71-85.Mukherjee, A., Malhotra, N. (2006) Does role clarit y condone employee-perceived service quality? A study of antecedents and consequences in call centres, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17 (5) p.446.Price, J. L. (1998). Estimation of Causal form of Absenteeism, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 41(2), p.227-246.Lau, V.C.S., Au, W.T., Ho, M.C.J. (2003). A Qualitative and Quantitative retread of Antecedents of Counterproductive Behaviour in Organizations, Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 18(1), p.75-77.Saks, A.M., Ashforth, B.E. (1996). Proactive assimilation and Behavioural Self- management, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol 48, p.301-23.Sansone, C. (1989). Competence feedback, Task feedback, and Intrinsic interest An examination of process and context, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol.25, p. 343-361.Wall, T.D., Cordery, J.L., Clegg, C.W. (2002). Empowerment, Performance, and Operational indecision A Theoretical Integration, Applied Psychology An International Review, Vol 51 (1), p.146-169.Withey, M.J., Cooper, W.H. (1989). Predicting Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect, administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 34 (4), p. 533.Wood S. (2004). Fully on-the-job training Experiences and travel ahead, National Centre for Vocational Education Research.LARKIN, The implicit theories approach to the self-monitoring controversy, European Journal of Personality, Volume5, Issue1, DateMarch 1991, Pages15-34Premeaux and Bedeian, Breaking the Silence The Moderating Effects of self-Monitoring in Predicting Speaking Up in the Workplace, Journal of Management Studies 406 September 2003 p1537-1562