An overview of the problems occurred Individual – employee, supervisor and manager Group – the management Junior and senior managers feel losing power because of the practice of empowerment. Most of the managers waste time on dealing with minor issues. The general manager John Becker is sick of giving minor decision instructions to his subordinates. Organization – The Regency Grand Hotel Verbal and written complaints from the customers increase rapidly. The prestige of the hotel is replaced by negative feedbacks given by the public. The business is definitely losing money. Relating to Organizational behaviour* concepts Empowerment Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of theindividuals. It often involves the empowerment developing confidence in their capacities. In some situations empowerment could motivate employees. The problem in the hotel is the measurement of a major or a minor issue. There is not a definition or standard states what a major issue is. Actually employee needs to know what he/she can touch and what he/she cannot. Conflict comes when the management disagrees with the employees’ view.
For example, a guest goes to the front-counter people and asks for a room upgrade. The front-counter boy thinks he could do that without approval from his superiorbut the front-counter manager may think it is a big issue because it would affect the profit of the business. What the front-counter boy has done may annoy the front-counter manager. Job design According to the job characteristics model, employees are more motivated and satisfied when jobs have higher levels of characteristics. People have different skills, it is important to put the right person into the right position.
A few employees of the hotel were transferred to other positions when the acquisition was done. They might not have the abilities to complete the full range of the new work activities. We cannot imagine how a bartender feels when he is cleaning the room. Employees need to know about their duties well and what their contributions are so that they will understand how their work affects the whole hotel. Work motivation could be increased through helping employee to understand the meaningfulness of their job. Autonomy is another factor of job design. John Becker was trying to increase the level of autonomy but failed.
After being introduced the empowerment, junior and senior managers feel that they are losing their power. When time passes by, they started to doubt or even reverse employee decisions. Employees then lost confidence in decision-making and reverted back to relying on the supervisors. Employees also need to know how well they are doing based on direct sensory information from the job itself. The staffs here rarely receive any positive feedback from their superiors when displaying initiative and made good decisions in satisfying the needs of the guests. Howeverthe managers simply reverse the employee decisions instead of coaching them.
This runs counter to the general manager’s instruction because John Becker wants the supervisors coach and assists the employees rather than provide direct orders. Motivational theories Becker spent a lot of time observing and interacting with the bottom employees. This helped many employees to understand what he expected of them. When things are getting out of control, the performance is not what Becker expected, he began to feel exhausted. This is the expectancy theory of motivation. On the other hand, employees expected better careers when the American took over the hotel.
They worked hard and used their initiative, creativity and judgment as directed to satisfy customer’s needs but rarely received positive feedback or reward. When they are able to forecast the poor outcome, they will not put effort into their work at all. The other concept in organizational behavior is needs-based theory. According to this theory, human beings care about physiological and safety matters as top priorities. The good working relationship in the Regency Grand Hotel had been severely strainedbecause people are unlikely taking responsibility for mistakes. They want to secure their jobs.
When problem occurs, they were quickly to point the finger at one another. Since the lower need (safety) is not satisfied, next higher need like esteem (respect from the others) and belongingness (make friends) will not become the primary motivator to those employees at this stage. Behaviour modification Behaviour modification is about Antecedents, Behaviour and Consequences. Here in the Regency Grand Hotel, employees were not motivated in the workplace (Antecedent) and made more and more mistakes (Behaviour) or even absent from work. As a consequence, customers complain more often and very bad feedbacks were given by the public media.
Stress There are many kinds of stressors in this case. When Becker began to feel highly frustrated and exhausted, his secretary, managers and department heads could have interpersonal stressors. Employees in the Regency could have role-related stressors when incongruity of expectations associated with their role and two roles conflicted with each other. Since most of the employees were confused with a minor issue and a major issue, the ambiguity tasks and social expectations also cause a high level of stress. And because of the alarming high level of stress, people started to be absent from work or simply exited.
The management was stressed as well. Becker’s subordinates consulted him with minor issues more frequently than ever before and Mr. Becker was getting sick of make these minor decisions. Culture differences Thai culture is quite different from American culture. John Becker is experienced but only in America. Many of the Asian countries are high power distance country including Thailand. Yet America is not. People in Thailand are comfortable receiving commands from their superiors without consultation or debate. This also explains why the Thai managers like to give direct orders and why they feel lose power when employees are empowered.
Recommended solutions: New documents: New company policy constitution Develop a trustworthy conflict resolution process. All those might solve part of the problems 1. Empowerment; 2. Job design; 3. Motivational theory; 4. Behavior modification; 5. Stress. Meetings: An urgent senior management level meeting must be held ASAP. All the senior managers must understand that the empowerment will not be a symptomof losing power. Their duty is to concentrate on major issues and decision makings, and guide their underling to best satisfy the guests. An all staff meeting must be held.
Introduce the new company policy; Encourage employee’s motivation; Promise the rewards after high evaluation and stress the punishments if intolerable mistake occurs. All those might solve part of the problems 1. Empowerment; 3. Motivational theory; 4. Behavior modification; 5. Stress. Trainings and Tours: Provide MBA or high level management courses to senior managers to elevate their abilities such as a better understanding of job specialization. Provide specific courses to different divisions of labor. This could increase skills and knowledge of the employee in a specific area.
For example: customer service lessons to front desk employees. Take high evaluated employees to visit the five-star hotels in our American hotel chain as a part of the rewards. Different customs and cultures could be introduced during the trip. (Learning by observing, Learning through experience. ) All those might solve part of the problems 2. Job design; 3. Motivational theory; 4. Behavior modification; 5. Stress and 6. Culture differences. Party, Ball and Sports Events: All those might solve part of the problems 4. Behavior modification; 5. Stress. Feedbacks and Adjustments: Adjustment also means change.
If the feedback shows that the environment of the hotel is not good enough, adjustments of the temperature, the color, or even the style of the fitment need to be made appropriately. If the feedback shows that the new cleaner is not only good at cleaning but also serving the customers, the human resource manager then should consider the position adjustment. There is not a rule stating what to adjust and what not to, the only measurement of a successful adjustment is the consequence – if it is achieving the goal. All those might solve part of the problems 2. Job design; 3. Motivational theory; 4. Behavior modification; 5. Stress. Conclusion
