Introduction
Leadership involves the process of influencing others to accomplish a goal and control the business more cohesively and coherently (Chacko, 2016 p. 253). Leaders carry out this process by applying their knowledge, experiences, and skills. Research into leadership, like the traits of an effective leader, majorly focuses on the traits and characters that make the leadership process more efficient or ineffective to an organisation like the Imperial Hotel. For instance, the leadership quarterly, a good academic source on leadership published in 2007, focuses on the qualities that make an ineffective leader and manager (Mumford et al., 2014). The journal states that looking into negative personal attributes and the dark side of management behaviour provides a more holistic view of how management and leadership can be ineffective.
Leadership is a critical part of an organisation and plays a significant role in ensuring the success or failure of the business. Thus, comprehensive research on negative leadership attributes can help improve the performance of managers in the Imperial Hotel leading to its overall success (Chacko, 2016 p. 253). In the case of the Imperial Hotel, poor direction and management have led to a high level of employee turnover, poor results in customer satisfaction surveys, and poor sales performance. This report aims to discuss the leadership in the hotel, suggest ways through which performance and leadership can be improved for the success of the business, and also look at how the problem applies in hospitality and management.
Background to the problem
The world’s economic recovery has a disadvantage for many industries, such as the hospitality industry. One of the downsides includes high staff turnover rates (Pinto et al., 2014). Thus, leaders and managers in the hospitality industry must display a strong ability to motivate and engage employees to ensure the success of the business. Moreover, as turnover rates increase, so do the rate of younger and less experienced employees who often require more supervision than experienced workers, Pryorett et al., 2010). Another challenge that faces leadership is Industry Corporation; organisational structures are growing more complex, hence making customer service and staff policy more difficult (Mumford et al., 2014, p.21). Thus making leadership a challenge in most organisations.
In the hospitality industry, leadership requires people with strong skills mastered regularly. Good communication skills are a mandatory requirement since excellent customer service involves listening to customer feedback, identifying the needs of clients, and also fulfilling those needs (Chacko, 2016). Similarly, leaders and managers in hospitality must exercise the same qualities with their employees and colleagues, listening to their ideas and addressing their concerns. In the case of an Imperial Hotel, Peter Farnsworth states that failure was brought by supervisors’ inability to monitor the daily work standards undertaken in the business and weak communication practices (Tracey & Hinkin, 2012, p. 23). This shows that leaders are not accepting the responsibility for their actions; leaders should never shift blame onto other workers. They should be quick to amend the situation. Leaders in hospitality should be able to exercise self-control even in the face of irate clientele, poor performance, and bad staff attitudes.
After several decades of relative stability in the hospitality industry, there has been increasing complexity and dynamic change in the industry. Thus the pressure is on leaders since the operating environment has become unpredictable. It is in this type of scenario that transformational leadership is needed most (Zopiatis & Constanti, 2012 p90). Transformational leaders motivate workers or followers by appealing to higher moral ethics and ideals. In this case, transformational leadership would improve sales performance and also reduce the level of staff turnover since workers are actively engaged in the process of leadership (Tracey & Hinkin, 2016), and their ideas and views are taken into consideration.
This means proper communication is maintained, and customer concerns would be looked into. Transformational leaders generate awareness and ensure every employee has accepted the purpose of the organisation, and also encourage staff to transcend their ideas while working. The vision provided by a leader motivates workers through giving meaning to their work and making them feel important to the organisation (Hermalin, 2014). As Peter has suggested, leading by example, the transformational leadership theory would apply in this case since it is an embodiment of the recommendation.
Feasibility of Peter’s suggestions.
Leading by example
Anyone in a leadership position in an organisation is looked upon by the workplace team. They depend on them for strength and guidance that also entails administration. Thus a large part of being a leader is leading by example (Guth et al., 2010 p.1023). As a leader, one is required to inspire people around them and in turn, drive the organisation to better performance. To achieve success, one must show the employees how it is done so that they can get the morale to do it. It creates a picture of what is achievable; followers will look and say it is doable.
When one leads by example, they make it easy for others to follow. For instance, the legendary Jack Welch of General Electric made his company the greatest by involving everyone in his organisation. He encouraged his employees to loosen up and provide their views in a free manner (Pryor & Martinez, 2010). Everyone from the lowest paid worker to senior managers got his attention when they wanted to share an idea. Consequently, General Electric became the most successful electric company under his leadership. Leadership is all about influence. The way one presents themselves in positions of leadership plays a significant role regarding how they motivate others.
Establishing an excellent standard of good performance through setting high expectations and raising the bar on all crucial matters would be significant in Imperial Hotel’s leadership and performance (Hermalin, 2014). When leaders showcase excellence, the workers will also improve their results since their actions affect everyone around the organisation. Reflective excellence would, in turn, lead to good performance, thus resulting in customer satisfaction and less staff turnover. Also, delivering on results promised by supervisors would increase sales in the hotel. The supervisors and managers should engage experts in projects to ensure their completion in a timely and competent manner, instead of giving excuses at the end. It would also help to break down tasks to avoid burnout and pressure.
Incentive support management
Incentive management involves rewarding employees for their effort; this is a form of recognition for specific accomplishments by specific employees. It is hoped that the prospects of the incentive will eventually inspire high performance in an organisation. Incentives can come in the form of cash, gifts, or vouchers that are either sold or donated to the staff at a discount (Malhemeyer, 2012 p.27). They must be earned newly every time; this is what differentiates incentives from other forms of payment. For instance, in the case of the Imperial Hotel, since customers complain of poor communication and weak reporting practices, employees can be motivated by incentives given to those who ensure that complaints that directly and significantly affect the organization’s performance are related to the management in time.
Another critical issue is that they are a one-time payment and are earned anew. They are also linked to specific achievements and are results oriented (Prestby et al., 2015 p134).
For instance, in the case of the Imperial Hotel, they can be attached to the smooth completion of a certain percentage reduction over a particular time. The incentive may be used to motivate performance above and beyond the ordinary level. The accomplishment may involve the whole management team, the workers or an individual from the hotel’s team. Thus, a team effort is applied, a feature that is particularly valuable in this kind of setting.
Revise cross-department collaboration
In an organisation’s environment, communicating your needs to people from other departments can be difficult. According to research done by Robert Half on challenges facing accounting and finance staff, results revealed that conveying financial information and learning to interact with a variety of personalities are the most problematic issues (Khan, 2016 p.137). Nonetheless, in a similar case in the Imperial Hotel, department heads have the responsibility of making sure that their team works well and also improve cross-departmental interactions through excellent skills in personality speaking; that is, the ability to know different personalities and what each can bring to the table. Another way is by identifying the stress that other departments are going through, and also the ability to share one’s stress with others. This helps motivate fellow employees, and also assist each other in one way or another when departments are related.
Review monitoring procedures and IT support.
In every organisation, monitoring employees' work plays a significant role in ensuring high performance and accountability. Therefore, it is the work of the IT department at the Imperial Hotel to ensure their staff are monitored and see to it that every customer is well served to their satisfaction. This would significantly improve the performance of the hotel by attending to complaints promptly, not to mention that all employees would be accountable for every result in sales and customer feedback (Oz et al., 2017 p 167).
Recommendations
It is recommended that the management at the Imperial Hotel offer regular training sessions, performance appraisals, and promote talented staff. (Pinto et al., 2014, p. 200). This would increase performance since the team would be motivated to work smarter and produce better results. The training would also help retain staff and improve their skills so that they would not often need supervision from the manager to perform their tasks. A well thought out training program for all staff, including incompetent managers, would give everyone a chance to realise their potential in the business and also perfect their skills in customer service, supervision, and communication. I would also recommend hiring managers and leaders with a transformational perspective so that every staff member is included in the company’s decision-making process.
As we have discussed above, transformational leadership involves every employee in a company’s objectives, and everyone feels free to give their ideas meant to increase performance in the enterprise. When leaders with a transformational idea or perspective are hired, the Imperial Hotel will see an increase in performance since all employees will have the freedom to express their concerns and ideas, which lead to the creative handling of tasks and services. Lastly, I would recommend the rewarding of employees with good customer service and good attendance. The hospitality industry is based on customer satisfaction through excellent attendance and service provision. Hence employees with these skills are a valuable asset in the industry. The rewarding of staff with records of good customer service would encourage them to work smarter and also motivate those that perform low based on customer satisfaction and attendance. Thus, workers with good communication skills can live and work together in the same environment without quarreling with each other based on who is smarter or better.
Conclusion
In the case study on leadership and management in the case study above, we have seen the traits of an ineffective leader, which include: poor communication skills, poor example, and leaders who are entirely task-oriented. Leadership plays a significant role in the performance of any organisation, and when there is poor management, the company’s performance shows negative results as seen above. Thus institutions must ensure that the leaders and managers in the business are competent and display excellent communication and leadership skills to ensure its success. Also, we have discussed the recommendations that would help increase sales, reduce staff turnover, and improve customer satisfaction, which include rewarding incentives, encouraging leaders to lead by example, and improving cross-departmental communication and cohesion, since this is a significant aspect of the hospitality industry. These recommendations are possible to implement and would lead to high performance in sales. Lastly, increasing supervision is also another recommendation we have discussed above, this helps increase accountability and employee motivation to perform as they are expected.
References
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