Best Western Organisational Behaviour Essay Example

Best Western Organisational Behaviour Essay Example Best Western Organisational Behaviour Essay Best Western Organisational Behaviour Essay The Best Western organisation is faced with a highly competitive market, on a basic level, greater publicity and awareness of the Best Western brand is the key driving force behind the Managing Director’s decision to go undercover. Best Western has been recently revamped in an attempt to portray itself as a warm and welcoming contemporary chain. A new advertising campaign has been rolled-out at great cost to the company but has made little impact on the problems they face. Best Western has directed its attention to the hotels that form the Best Western group. Efforts are being made to also transform the hotels themselves and align the goals of the work force with Best Western ideology. To see a significant change in the public perception of the Best Western brand attention must be paid to the customer service provided by the individual hotels as opposed to addressing the brand as a whole. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between Best Western and the staff that work on its behalf, more specifically the organisational culture and how the workforce perceives the Best Western organisation. Consideration is also given to the influencing factors behind the behaviours of the staff and the motivational influences within the role. The standard of leadership within Best Western and management of the hotels within the group is analysed and the effects of poor leadership observed. Introduction This report will analyse various scenarios that occurred within the Best Western organisation, relating to its people. The very nature of the chain causes complexities in the way the company integrates with the other businesses that form the group. The behaviour of both the employee and manager will be reviewed and some of the influencing factors discussed. Perception It is apparent from the first hotel observed in the documentary that the Best Western brand and the workforce fronting the organisation do not share common goals. Best Western’s main dilemma is an outdated public perception which is no match for their current competitors. Best Western and the hotels they enlist are somewhat disjointed which is a cause for concern with regards to continuity of service across the UK. Implementing changes from the top has very little impact on the service provided by the frontline. The workforce has little recognition of Best Western and don’t perceive their place of work as part of a larger organisation. Consequently, Best Western has limited control over the service its customers receive; the success of the chain relies heavily on the transformation of public perception. To address the issue at large they must first align the goals of employees with that of the organisation to instil consistency throughout the company. These changes can only be achieved by tackling the shared beliefs of the employees within the company, otherwise known as the ‘organisational culture’. The perception they hold directly correlates to the behaviours they display. It was apparent that the first hotel observed in the documentary perceived Best Western as something of an inconvenience; instead of taking time and effort aligning their premises with Best Western policies and cascading these down to their employees they instructed employees to utilise various methods to fool Best Western inspectors’, therefore resisting change. One particular employee, Michael, was responsible for the Maintenance within said hotel, his views mirrored those of management and he too perceived Best Western as a company who occasionally inspected the premises; his behaviour may be explained by the locus of control, Michael appears to perceive the outcome of his actions as controlled by external factors such as management whom he deems responsible for the poor workmanship being carried out. Michael displayed a lack of loyalty and commitment for the Best Western brand and consequently perceived his own role as insignificant. Perception is important because it has such an enormous impact on organisational behaviour. We cannot understand organisational behaviour unless we understand perception. † (David J. Cherrington. (1994) ‘Organisational Behaviour: The Management of Individual and Organisational Performance’ (Second Edition) pp48) The final hotel involved in the undercover task the Managing Director encounter ed an employee who appeared to enjoy her role in the business, she projected the ideal first impression for customers; warm, welcoming and helpful. The concept of Impression management maintains that first impressions are lasting and a negative first impression is resistant to change. This is also referred to as ‘the primary effect’ (‘Management Organisational Behaviour’ Seventh Edition, Laurie J. Mullins, 2007. pp451) The Managing Director seized this opportunity by choosing her to front the new advertisement campaign. The motivating factors influencing organisational behaviours have a key role to play in the perceptions of Best Western, establishing what motivates an employee can have an impact on the actions you take to change their perception. Motivation There is a stark contrast between the motivational factors driving the Managing Director of Best Western, and those managing the workforce. This becomes clear early in the documentary. The Managing Director immediately makes a conscious decision to identify and address the problems caused by poor moral and a general lack of motivation. â€Å"The underlying concept of Motivation is some driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfil some need or expectation. † (Management and Organisational Behaviour, Lurie J Mullins, Seventh Edition P 471, 2005) It can be assumed that for someone in the role of Managing Director, motivating factors are unlikely to mirror those of the employees. The Managing Director is more likely to pursue intrinsic, psychological rewards such as achievement recognition for transforming the Best Western brand, and the appreciation associated therein. Extrinsic factors such as salary, benefits and promotion are insignificant. Maslow’s theory of motivational needs suggests that satisfaction of one need activates the next higher need (Abraham H. Maslow (1943) ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’ Psychological Review 50, pp 370-396) The Managing Director has achieved the highest position in the company- with basic needs achieved psychological needs such as perception of self worth and achievement are likely to be the motivating factors influencing his actions. â€Å"High achievers respond to challenges and strive to achieve goals, money in itself is not the main motivator but rather because high pay is seen as positive feedback and symbolises attainment of goalsâ€Å" (‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’ Seventh Edition, Laurie. J. Mullins, 2007 P487). McClelland’s (1973) theory can be used to portray the underlying needs attributed to this behaviour. This is where a person tries to succeed in what they do, McLelland suggests that individuals with a high need for achievement prefer to work alone and do not like to be dependent on others’ to complete the task – they prefer to take full responsibility for what they do. The Managing Director has assigned himself the task of going under cover in the organisation, it is visible from the program that he likes to take the task in hand to reach a solution, he keen pursue this task alone and had no intentions of delegating. The action taken by the Managing Director to help him achieve his need to succeed have been motivated by the expectation that his actions will meet the desired outcome a greater understanding of his organisation, a solution to the problems the company faces and eventually success in the transformation of Best Western. His choice of action was directly influenced by the expectancy of the outcome A combination of Vroom (1964) Expectancy Theory and Locke (1968) Goal-setting Theory attributed to his behaviour. ‘Introduction to Organisational Behaviour’ Steve Ellie and Penny Dick, 2000, PP45- 50) The contrast in levels of motivation was highly visible in the scenes filmed with the Managing Director and the Maintenance Man, Michael. Michael displayed a complacent and despondent attitude toward his role in the organisation. This was relayed by his lack of motivation. He appeared to find the tasks frustrating, boring and repetitive. â€Å"When a person’s motivational d riving force is blocked they are unable to satisfy their needs and expectations and what is likely to affect on their work performance (‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’ Seventh Edition, Laurie. J. Mullins, 2007 PP 476-478) Mullins suggests that when a person finds they have no motivational influence they will experience withdrawl, apathy and give up on the task. Herzberg’s theory of motivation also addresses this issue and suggests an individual requires a variety of ‘Hygiene factors’ present in any given environment in order to then embark on the various levels of motivational influence toward the task at hand. Hygiene factors merely meet your needs and make you safe and comfortable but will not contribute to personal growth and development that can only come from the nature of your work or task† (Vroom and Deci, 1989). These factors include working conditions, supervisors, relationships and salary. These basic needs were not met in any of the hotels visited. Salaries were very poor with the majority of the employees observed working for minimal wage. The Green keeper and head Housekeeper were highlighted as two individuals on a very low salary. Ironically these were two of the hardest working, long term employees observed which contradicts Herzberg’s theory; Herzberg suggests that the absence of hygiene factors will create dissatisfaction and have an impact on the productivity of the workforce. (‘Introduction to Organisational Behaviour’ Steve Ellie and Penny Dick, 2000, PP43- 44) The Green keeper and Housekeeper are perhaps influenced by more intrinsic factors and work for psychological rewards and social needs given that these particular employees are both directly affected by health issues. The working conditions provided for the Chef encountered in the first hotel were less than satisfactory. This had a large impact on his role and the working hours he was expected to undertake. Although somewhat disheartened by the lack of recognition and lack of extrinsic factors obtained from his position, the Chef also appears to be driven by psychological rewards such as fulfilment and achievement. However, the Maintenance Man is a prime example of Herzberg’s theory. His lack of motivation owing to minimal supervision and no recognition is very apparent suggesting the absence of hygiene factors has directly affected his motivation and productivity within the role. In most cases observes the main problem lay with the lack of management and leadership providing motivation and leadership to the employees. Employees weren’t familiar with any of the Best Western policies and in some cases unaware of whom their direct manager was. Leadership There is a significant problem with the leadership involved in the Best Western case. The relationships held with the individual hotels’ is impersonal with new policies and agendas implemented and left to cascade down to the employees with limited communication. The workforce was oblivious to the transformation and advertisement campaign that Best Western is currently undergoing. Again, it is apparent that Best Western management appear very disjointed from the hotels within its group. The Managing Director appears to operate with a democratic leadership style, involving team members in decision making, and being mindful of the general objectives they are addressing. He displays clear goals for the betterment of the organisation. Overall he displays a strong task-motivated style. He appears to have sound management skills within the Best Western offices but has failed to communicate his objectives to the hotels’ within the Best Western chain. Adair’s (1984) theory of effective leadership suggests leaders must maintain a balance when leading a group in order to achieve success. If a leader concentrates on the task and neglects individual members morale can plummet and the group split. A leader needs to be able to cope with group dynamics† (Rollinson 2008). The ‘group’ in this scenario is the collaboration of Best Western and the hotel’s within the chain. The leader has neglected the hotels within the group and therefore morale has plummeted. The Managing Director clearly recognises this as a problem and in doing so is prepared to work in tandem with staff members to progress against his goals. For example, with one of his priorities at the beginning of his campaign is to promote awareness of Best Western, he later brought in one of the workers he was shadowing – who had previously had very little knowledge of the group – as the new face of the business for ongoing advertising. There appears to be a synergy between making her aware of the Best Western brand and making others aware. This can also represent itself as a reward and recognition for her commitment in choosing her to represent the company. The Fiedler contingency model maintains that that leadership style remains stable across various leadership experiences( Wendy Bloisi (2003) ‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’ pp579. Berkshire: Mcgraw-Hill) However, the Managing Director clearly displayed a task motivated style initially and adapted his leadership role to a relationship-motivated style to suit the circumstances. This balance proved effective in achieving the desired outcome from the employees. Although the Managing Director was not in a position to manage the staff for most of the exercise, he showed sound leadership qualities. He was sociable with the staff and looked to take an interest in their individual circumstances/interests (this was later reflected in rewards he gave to the Green Keeper, House Keeper and Chef) However, he always appeared to work well, and represented a sound work ethic, without trying to impose it on others. This was reflected in his time observing the employee responsible for the Maintenance in the first hotel. The employee made little effort in his role and the quality of the work produced fell far short from the Best Western standard. The Managing Director tried to encourage the employee as opposed to dictate. He commented the work could have been performed better with a little more effort applied. Gratton suggests â€Å"for many people the reality of life in an organisation is that they do not feel they are treated as the most important asset, or that their knowledge is understood or used† (Laurie J Mullins( 2007) ‘Management Organisational Behaviour’ p251) Whilst working undercover with others, the Managing Director gave the impression that he felt the staff should be better valued, and in most cases he later took steps to show that he/Best Western did recognise their efforts, and that they were appreciated. In contrast to the effective leadership traits shown by Managing Director, the leadership at the first hotel appeared to be greatly lacking. There was no participation by the hotel management in the running of the hotel itself, there was no support offered to hotel staff, there was no awareness of the work that was being carried out by individuals, and there was no inspiration being offered or morale being imparted. In the case of the Maintenance man, his productivity was very low under the absence of a leader, and the Chef we observed was working very productively, but in an unreasonable environment, and with low morale. Mullins described the management process as â€Å"achieving organisational objectives within a changing environment, by balancing efficiency, effectiveness and equity, obtain the most from limited resource and working with and through other people† (Naylor, ‘Management Organisational Behaviour’ Seventh Edition, Laurie J. Mullins, 2007. p 195) Both extremes of leadership serve to highlight the importance of this balance. Staff must be managed effectively in order to be at their most productive, and they must be empowered and supported to help obtain the company objectives. Perhaps the Managing Director could have achieved better results had he cemented better relations with the management of the hotels’. â€Å"Leadership is far more effective at delivering organisational goals. If employees willingly follow a leader then their commitment is higher because they have consented to follow the leader. If a manager can act as a leader then it is thought that employee’s efforts can more easily be aligned to organisational objectives† (Rollinson 2008). Direct communication, possibly arranging regular teambuilding events involving the employees would enable employees to identify with the organisation, improving loyalty, commitment and morale in the workforce. This will undoubtedly improve customer relations and have an impact on the transformation of the Best Western organisation. Conclusion Best Western appears to be taking the necessary steps to address the problems they face in the current market. The Managing director displayed sound management skills throughout the documentary. With a clear objective in mind he communicated with employees to establish the factors influencing their behaviour and consequently the factors influencing the antiquated public perception. It is apparent that Best Western employees lack motivation and feel undervalued. Fortunately for Best Western, where they are fall short of meeting employee needs by failing to provide adequate extrinsic factors such as salary, supervision and working condition the intrinsic factors motivating the individuals counteract the problem to a certain extent. The Managing Director took measures to try and create a feeling of harmony between the hotels’ and the Best Western group. He made positive steps toward brand awareness and improving the perception of Best Western in the eyes of the employees he encountered. However, the problems surrounding leadership within the hotels’ did not appear to reach a positive outcome. The majority of employees viewed were impacted negatively by the lack of supervision and management within the hotels. The Managing Director achieved heightened awareness of the organisational culture within the Best Western company which will allow him greater control of the service his organisation provide and in the long term will enable him to update the Best Western name.