Introduction
A lot of companies and organizations decide to undergo transformation in instances where the current strategies are not effective or profitable enough. Such transformation may involve individual persons, managers or the whole. Thus, Headland Hotel opted to embrace transformation as a solution to achieve its objectives.
In order to compete favorably and stand out amongst so many other organizations in the same industry, Headland needed to embrace certain adjustments within its internal structural setting. One such available adjustment was the Excellence program. Headland Hotel management was willing to quickly take up the Excellence program largely due to the nature of the program itself (Holmes, 2010).
According to Mr. Michelle Brown, the human resource manager, this program had been designed in such a way that it gave an elaborate explanation concerning its implementation. Its designers had gone a notch higher by providing support information to help give a clear understanding of the model hence little difficulties in its adoption and subsequent implementation (Horney, 2011).
Implementation directions also partially guaranteed successful implementation as they served like a manual for the process. Excellence program also offered information on best plans to improve businesses. Therefore, companies adopting this program had a variety of options at their disposal to choose from since the program also opened up chances for the firm to network with other firms in the hospitality sector.
Networking is a crucial aspect especially in benchmarking as well as beating competition. The management also evaluated the current improvement strategies in place and realized that many newly initiated programs had not been duly followed up after being introduced. Some had neither been evaluated nor their improvement ascertained. Thus, it was a wise option to try out the Excellence program in order to realize the required improvements within the organization.
Headland Hotel and the Excellence Program
Once the management agreed to indulge the Excellence program, it adopted a three strategy framework that could help realize a successful implementation of the system in the organization. The first strategy was an all-inclusive approach to the program where every member of the organization was to be involved in this important process. The strategy was to ensure that views from all the employees had been taken into consideration while executing the program (Hoyle, 2010).
Secondly, the management decided to collect valuable and executable improvement ideas from each and every member of the Headland Hotel fraternity. They designed questionnaires that would help achieve the task and every department head was assigned the task of explaining to his or her subjects what was required by the management. They did so through weekly meetings at department level. Department heads were then to report back to the implementation committee as well as present the various contributions to the same committee (Kotter & Cohen, 2012).
The third strategy involved redesigning. The management decided to create a new business plan which clearly outlined the new vision as well as the revised objectives of the hotel. It also served as a guideline that directed all employees on what was expected of them and in order to evaluate the progress of all the above introduced programs. The management further started a mystery shopper program. The program was to monitor employee reactions towards the new changes and give feedback to the program developing committee. This mystery program was also used to gauge and evaluate the overall effects of the new programs in place.
Employee opinion surveys were also carried out and this time not to capture the employee reactions but to identify any suitable adjustments and modifications that would be incorporated within the program. Survey programs would also help to establish the resultant effects of the program on individual employees.
Key practices that enabled the journey
The overall management structure and strategies were the major practices that enabled the improvement journey of Headland Hotel. The perception and resultant response and impression accorded to any idea determines the fate of the same idea. Therefore, if an idea is considered less important, less effort will be channeled towards the same.
The different manners in which plans are made to deal with certain ideas consequently determine the success value of the respective idea. For instance, the management realized that every decision made at the top management organs bears significant effects on the lowest ranked employee. Inclusion of all employees and their varied views and opinions was thus a major breakthrough in the whole process as it made employees feel regarded in the organization and realize that their contributions to the organization are highly appreciated (Hoyle, 2010).
Another managerial aspect that adversely contributed to the success of the program was decentralization and subsequent delegation of duties. It would have been hard for the top managers to reach each individual employee to capture their opinion. However, using department heads was an effective approach to reach all the employees and in return the small employee population played a role in helping to implement the program successfully (Horney, 2011).
Headland Hotel has approximately 120 employees. The small number therefore reduced the overall time required to analyze the information obtained compared to situations where large number of employees could be involved in the process. The use of questionnaires limits one to a certain scope of information and reduces the tendency of giving information that could otherwise be deemed irrelevant. Consequently a wide range of information about the topic at hand was obtained. In this case, application of questionnaires to the employees of Headland Hotel confined them to give information that concerned strategy shifts towards improvement only (Holmes, 2010).
Key practices that constrained the journey
It was apparent that one of the adjustments that required to be carried out was the merging of closely related teams in order to realize required improved output. Merging always has the challenge of maintaining the same workforce while redesigning the tasks which can sometimes include task reduction.
A mind boggling situation arises when a certain process demands that a number of employees are laid off in order to successfully see through a certain strategy. This became quite challenging to the managers since they already had a small employee population and laying them off was not an option.
Moreover, from the human resource manager reports, it became apparent that the response from the employees through the questionnaires was quite overwhelming. As a result, a lot of information and suggestions were availed to the program developing committee. The major challenge that faced the committee, according to Mr. Michelle, was the criteria to use in identifying improvement projects. Many employees gave their best in giving proposals that would bring significant improvements in the organization. They were also able to make appropriate proposals now that department heads had taken them through what the developing committee required of them. It became hard for the committee to pick among the many suggestions the best improvement projects.
What would have constrained the journey?
Even though Headland Hotel successfully went through the Excellence program, there could have been certain constraints that might have derailed the whole process. Thus, employees play a vital role in the overall running of any organization. Failure to incorporate the employee’s views in any managerial policy might cause a revolt amongst employees. Headland Company could have risked the whole process just in case managers would have passed all changes and imposed them on employees.
Sometimes implementing a managerial change on a large number of people might turn out to be cumbersome. Part of success realized by this organization in discussion is attributed to its small employee fraternity. This company could have experienced major setbacks associated with large crowds during its implementation. A major drawback which could have faced Headland Hotel is a reduced implementation pace due numerous consultations to achieve consensus among many people.
Another factor that could have derailed transformation is managerial failure to accept the need for a change. Managers in this case agreed and realized beneficial outcomes that were to accompany Excellence program (Kotter & Cohen, 2012). They also agreed that the current conditions as they were in the organization could not help them achieve set objectives as desired hence need for change. It could have turned out to be a hard risk if the management was adamant and unwilling to embrace change.
Managers are the core drivers of any organization and their objection to anything consequently implies that the proposed change will be successful. In some cases, managers may stick to strategies that in the overall analysis are productive. In such cases, any attempt to bring change is always met with the most stern objection and rejection.
Was the journey successful?
The implementation of the Excellence program in Headland Hotel was a big success. The human resource manager praises the program as a major step in the hotel’s improvement. He singles out the outcome of the mystery shopper. He further reports that some members of the mystery shopper program recorded results as high one hundred percent in some areas of the organization. Since the mystery program was a watchdog program, the outcomes of such magnitude clearly implied the program was a success.
Indeed, the only way to gauge the progress and reception of the process by employees was through analyzing the mystery shopper program. The human resource manager also reveals that the program helped the organization identify its focus area. This definitely helps the organization identify the most profitable ventures hence ensuring it invests heavily in the identified areas.
Identification of focus areas also has an advantage of helping the organization evaluate the outcome from each quota of the organization. The company was also able to redefine its overall goals after going through the Excellence program. This implies that the program did not only act to improve the performance but also acted as a benchmark from which the company evaluated its progress. The opening remarks by the human resource manager portray admiration and appraisal of the program. He says that when they first looked at the program, they realized that it could help them significantly achieve what they could. They therefore had analyzed the whole program and ascertained its success percentage before they eventually chose to try it out. There was no chance to eventually fail to succeed after such a thorough scrutiny.
What made the journey successful?
Headland Hotel realized a successful implementation of the Excellence program because the managers evaluated the situation of the organization at that time and accepted the fact that several changes were needed if the organization was to be successful. The success of the program can also be largely attributed to the implementation strategy adopted.
First, there was a formation of a developing committee to foresee the whole process. The department heads were then put in charge employees under their respective departments. This ensured that there was a special group of people at all levels who gave direction on the process and to whom all issues over the same program were addressed. The same special group was also charged with directional responsibility (Holmes, 2010).
A very important advantage of using a committee to steer an implementation process is that the process would still go on even when one of the committee members were absent. This is unlike having a single person overseeing the whole process, when should the individual find an appointment elsewhere, the whole process may come to a standstill (Hoyle, 2010).
Questionnaires limit the respondent to a certain type of response but helps remove fears of victimization especially in cases where sensitive information is required. Hence, by using questionnaires, the management gave the employees all the freedom to open up on issues relevant to improvement of performance. This way, the developing committee was in a position to recommend appropriate and necessary changes as noted from the questionnaire responses. A possible scenario would be that in an open forum discussion some members of the employee fraternity would have kept their opinions to themselves for fear of victimization and possible punishment.
References
Holmes, K 2010, Total Quality Management, Pira International Ltd, Leatherhead.
Horney, K 2011, Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., New York.
Hoyle, D 2010, Quality Management Essentials, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Kotter, J & Cohen, S 2012, The Heart of Change, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston.