Case Study 3 Donna Hopkins is Director of Front Office Operations at a renowned luxury hotel in New York City. Her job responsibilities include managing the front desk, reservations, bell stand, and concierge, both in the main lobby and on the exclusive concierge floor. Ms. Hopkins has a college degree in marketing, has more than ten years of hotel experience, and has been with the corporation for seven years. She has been working in her current capacity at the hotel for four years. Throughout her seven-year tenure, Donna has done an excellent job in all of her positions and has steadily climbed in the ranks of the corporation. As part of her career progression, she is anxious to move to the executive level and feels that she is well qualified to do so. Upon taking the position as Director, Donna found the front office to be in a state of turmoil, with excessive guest complaints and a high degree of turnover. Business people, for whom timeliness and quick service are essential, account for approximately 55 percent of this hotel's clientele and room sales. Donna instituted training and quality assurance programs that resulted in greater levels of satisfaction for both guests and employees. Jonathan Bryant is the Executive Housekeeper of the same hotel. He has worked in various capacities in the corporation over the past eleven years and has held his current position for four years. He supervises a staff of well over 100 employees and is ultimately responsible for keeping the entire hotel spotless, as demanded by the Case Study 3 hotel's business clientele. He has been a exemplar employee in both his technical ability and his relations with his subordinates, which is reflected in high productivity and extremely low turnover in the Housekeeping Department. He, too, feels that he is ready for a promotion. Ms. Hopkins and Mr. Bryant are good friends, and they have great respect for each other's abilities. Several weeks ago, Ms. Hopkins was faced with a situation that jeopardized the daily operation and reputation of the hotel. A large convention of attorneys would be taking place in the hotel over the weekend, and the front desk staff thought that they were fully prepared to handle the large afternoon crowds. On Friday, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, the computer registration system of the hotel was rendered inoperable by a sudden power surge. All reservations and records of current guests were inaccessible. Guests waiting to check out or check in would have to be delayed until the system was operational. Ms. Hopkins's response to the computer collapse was immediate. She first contacted Mr. Bryant to gain access to the housekeeping room charts to determine which rooms were available and which were occupied. She and the Resident Manager created a Case Study 3 short list of rooms that should be given to the attorney group, based on their room availability status and the preliminary list of rooms that they had allocated to the group in the signed contract. These lists were placed on a large room rack at the front desk for easier visibility. By coordinating with housekeeping, front desk agents were provided with new lists as soon as one list was finished. During this time, Ms. Hopkins instructed the front desk agents to keep clear records of all check-ins in order to place the accounts in the computer when the system was operational. Departing guests were offered the choice of direct billing or, if they chose to wait, a complimentary lunch at the luxury restaurant at the hotel. The General Manager led the guests to the restaurant, informed the staff of the present situation, and instructed them to simply charge the meals to the Front Office/Rooms Division. Ms. Hopkins also instructed one of the two concierges in the lobby to assist the lobby monitors in keeping the new arrivals in neat lines and in providing them with guidance. She also received some volunteer assistance in checking in guests from the Resident Manager The General Manager contacted the Engineering Department and instructed it to locate Case Study 3 the source of the problem and restore the computer as soon as possible, which it did an hour and a half after the shutdown. It was discovered that an influx of electrical current from the outside had caused the damage and that the hotel was one of many buildings in a five-block radius that had been so affected. When computer service was restored, Ms. Hopkins collected all the check-in information and had employees begin to enter the data into unoccupied computers in the reservations office. After this was done, they would begin to take care of the check- outs. She also contacted the restaurant and informed the staff to notify guests who would be checking out that they could proceed to the front desk. The situation had finally calmed down by 4:00 in the afternoon, and the staff was ready for the heavy evening check-in of attorneys. Upon arrival at the hotel the following Monday morning, both Ms. Hopkins and Mr. Bryant were informed by the General Manager(GM) that the position of Executive Director of the Rooms Division at the Chicago property had become available. Although he would be sorry to lose either one of them, the GM encouraged each of them to apply as he felt they both deserved a promotion. Each did apply for the job, Case Study 3 . with no sense of hostility between them. Two weeks after applying, they found that there were 11 applicants who had been determined to be viable candidates for the position, and they both were among them. A short list of 5 would be identified within the next few days. They then found that they had both made the list. Although not formally announced, it was rumored that there was also another manager from another hotel within the corporation, an individual from a competitor, and a person from the corporate office on the list. Over the past several months the corporate office had been going through a major restructuring in order to reduce costs and become more efficient. Within the next week both Ms. Hopkins and Mr. Bryant were flown to Chicago to interview with the GM and the Corporate Director of Human Resources. Ms. Hopkins felt that her interview had gone extremely well and was guardedly optimistic about getting the position. The week after her interview Ms. Hopkins found out that the position had been offered to the individual from the corporate office, who was a finance specialist with very little operations experience. In her frustration, she contacted her GM to try to learn more about the decision. The GM was very disappointed but explained that the corporate was trying to outplace the best corporate people into operations to retain their talent. That afternoon Ms. Hopkins called a headhunter who had contracted her off and on over the last couple of years. Case Study 3 Banquets Mktg.& Sales Maint. Controller Food & Bev. Front Office Hskpg. Security Human Resources Case Study 3 Crisis Management A crisis is defined as a significant threat to operations that can have negative consequences if not handled properly. In crisis management, the threat is the potential damage a crisis can inflict on an organization, its stakeholders, and an industry. A crisis can create three related threats: (1) public safety, (2) financial loss, and (3) reputation loss. Some crises, such as industrial accidents and product harm, can result in injuries and even loss of lives. Crises can create financial loss by disrupting operations, creating a loss of market share/purchase intentions, or spawning lawsuits related to the crisis. As Dilenschneider (2000) noted in The Corporate Communications Bible, all crises threaten to tarnish an organization's reputation. A crisis reflects poorly on an organization and will damage a reputation to some degree. Clearly these three threats are interrelated. Case Study 3 Human Resources Human resources management (HRM) Regardless of the type of business you are running, in order to successfully attract and retain good workers, you need to have a good understanding of effective human resources practices and implement those practices in your business. A well-planned HRM program that is tailored to your organization and staff can actually improve your business's bottom line. E Employers in the hospitality sector are recognizing the importance of, and challenges associated with, attracting and retaining good workers and are placing human resources issues at the top of their priority list. Case Study 3 Human Resources Function of Human resources Human resources planning: Through job analysis and strategic planning, including assessment of the environment and projections for future business, organizations can forecast short- and long-term staffing needs and the strategic use of the human resource functions to meet those needs. Job analyses and job descriptions: Job analyses are used to define the tasks and responsibilities involved in each job and to determine the qualifications required to successfully fulfill the job requirements. Job descriptions are the resulting documents. They provide a basis for all other HR functions. Recruitment: Various methods are used to attract suitable applicants from labor pools. Selection: The selection process is used to hire the best people into the positions for which they are most suited. . Case Study 3 Human Resources Orientation: A new employee's initial introduction to the company provides essential information and creates a positive first impression. Training and development: These functions facilitate the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for staff to perform in their current position and/or to prepare for advancement. Compensation, benefits, and recognition: Businesses need to determine appropriate types and levels of remuneration and incentives, including wages, formal benefits, and perquisites (perks). Performance management: Providing feedback to employees on their work performance encourages and supports improvement. Also included in performance management is coaching. Progressive discipline is a separate process intended as a formal corrective process to address unsatisfactory behavior or job performance. Termination: Businesses must manage the process of employees leaving the organization due to just cause or termination being the final stage of progressive discipline. . Case Study 3 1. Summarize the case within a paragraph. 2. Evaluate Ms. Hopkins's performance in the crisis 3. What message was being sent by this decision? What are some of the possible costs of this decision?