Final Case Study THE REGENCY GRAND HOTEL

The Regency Grand Hotel was one of Bangkoks most prestigious hotels when it was recently sold to a large American hotel chain. John Becker, an American with 10 years of management experience with the hotel chain, was appointed as the new General Manager. Becker applied empowerment practices to the hotels 700 employees, who have always worked according to managements instructions. He told the hotels supervisors to give employees the opportunity to use their initiative, and to coach and assist rather than provide direct orders. Becker reduced the number of bureaucratic rules, which upset those who previously had decision-making power over these issues.

The general manager spent time encouraging empowerment among employees, although they still had trouble knowing the limits of their autonomy. Supervisors would reverse employee decisions by stating that they were major issues requiring management approval. Eventually, employees reverted back to relying on their superiors for decision making. Rather than improve customer service, the hotels performance deteriorated. Absenteeism and turnover of staff also increased.

NOTE: This is a true case that occurred in another (but culturally similar) Asian country. The industry has also been changed to maintain anonymity. The original industry also requires high levels of customer service.

Discussion Questions:

1. Identify and define the main symptoms indicating that organizational behaviour problems exist in this case. (100-150 words)

2. Diagnose three problems, in this case, using the organizational behaviour concept of Empowerment. (200-250 words)

3. Discuss the perspectives of the Job Characteristics Model and how it pertains to the problem of Empowerment in this case? (500-550 words)