Scope Of Work And Methods Of Analysis

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

This report has been prepared on the basis of research undertaken at the British Hospitality Association (hereinafter referred to as BHA). It is aimed at providing analysis on managers’ approach towards issues associated with management, leadership and motivation for the aforementioned organization which has a culturally diverse business environment. Accordingly, such an analysis has been critically done and all the strategic options available to the organization to manage its staff and guests within the context of cultural diversity have been immensely discussed. Lastly, the conclusions has been drawn keeping in view the issues identified along with suitable recommendations as to how the processes could be improved or maintained within that organization to ensure it continues to meet and respond to the expectation of the customers.

Scope of Work and Methods of Analysis

For the purpose of executing research, numerous arrangements have been made in advance which include appointments taken from managers before meetings, interviews with the personnel and staff, time constraints and the study of an organization’s intended and emergent strategies and human resource development policies and procedures. Therefore, the key methods that have been adopted for the research include.

Obtained the BHA’s intended planned strategy towards its leadership and the management and development of human resources.

Interviewed line managers about the style of leadership and adaptive approaches in managing people according to the outcome of a specified adopted style.

Circularized a survey form to all employees for obtaining feedback on different psychological aspects of the employees towards their job particularly hygiene and motivator factors.

Analyzing the divergent attitudes, motives, needs and wants of the workforce.

Analyzing the performance of the highly efficient workers by consideration of all the elements behind them.

On a sample basis, conducted interviews with the guests about the quality of service and the level of their satisfaction against it. In addition, a multiple choice questionnaire had been issued for obtaining feedback and arriving at a conclusion.

British Hospitality Association’s Overview

The British Hospitality Association (hereinafter referred to as ‘BHA’), incorporating The Restaurant Association, is the national trade association for the hotel, restaurant and catering industry. It is one of the leading restaurant trade associations in hospitality and tourism industry in the United Kingdom. It has membership in almost every publicly quoted hotel group, many independent hotels, restaurants and clubs, major food and service management companies, motor service operators and many local hospitality associations, as well as hospitality education establishments. In total it represents more than 40,000 establishments with over 500,000 employees across the United Kingdom.

BHA was established in 1907 by a group of hoteliers and it exists to ensure that the views of the British Hospitality Industry are represented in a forceful, coherent and coordinated way to government and policy makers in the United Kingdom as well as internationally, in order that its members’ businesses can flourish BHA.

BHA lobbies on behalf of their members at local, national and international level provides advisory services for its members on matters such as legal advice, accountancy, tax and procurement. Members of the BHA also have regular opportunities to engage in networking with other members and organizations.

The association promotes the interests of the entire hospitality industry to government ministers, MPs and MEPs, members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, the European Union Commission, the city and the media.

BHA Economic Contribution of the United Kingdom Hospitality Industry

BHA believes that the removal of unnecessary red tape in the tourism and hospitality industry can make a real difference to the country’s economic recovery. Already the government’s own tourism policy has acknowledged the huge contribution that tourism and hospitality make to the UK economy;

One of Britain’s six largest industries

The third largest export earner

Comprise over 200,000 businesses

Provides 1.36 m jobs (4.4 percent of total employment)

Generates over £90 billion direct spend each year

The British Hospitality Association’s Leading Team

The British Hospitality is governed by the following leading team who are responsible for all the strategic decisions and their implementation by influencing its workforce to work willingly towards the organizations’ objectives and to the best of their capabilities with a high level of motivation and dedication.

S#

Name

Designation and Description

1

Alan Parker

Chairman, British Hospitality Association

2

Ufi Ibrahim

Chief Executive, British Hospitality Association

3

Robert Walton

President, The Restaurant Association

4

Richard Thomas

Chairman, The Restaurant Association

5

Robin Rowland

Chairman, National Restaurants Group

6

Peter Owen

Chairman, Clubs Panel

7

Phil Hooper

Chairman, Food and Service Management Forum

8

Alistair Storey

BHA Representative, FERCO

9

Graham Wason

Chairman of BHA VAT Campaign

10

Willie Macleod

BHA Executive Director, Scotland

11

Calum Ross

BHA Chairman, Scotland Committee

12

James Bowie

BHA Chairman , Heart of England Committee

13

Paul Sadler

BHA Chairman, South West Committee

14

Shara Ross

BHA Chairman, Eastern Committee

15

Ciaran Fahy

BHA Chairman, London Committee

16

Andrew Evans

BHA Chairman, Welsh Committee

17

Philip Newman-Hall

BHA Chairman, South East Committee

18

Simon Kershaw

BHA Chairman, Northern Committee

Management and Leadership of BHA

The British Hospitality Association Approach towards Management and Leadership

Generally speaking, business entities need to develop new business strategies to remain competitive in their industries and markets. In a complex and continually changing environment, it is not sufficient to keep business strategies the same, making only incremental changes. New strategies involve change, which may be substantial. Therefore, leadership and the management and development of human resources affect all aspects of a business strategy.

BHA is committed to showing leadership as a business, while inspiring consumers to make healthier choices too. For this purpose, its leadership team has incorporated all the key elements for an effective and efficient leadership by exhibiting a positive organizational behavior. This positive organizational behavior includes optimism, hope, resiliency, emotional intelligence and especially self –efficacy. In addition, the stream of research has identified several competencies that are related to its leadership effectiveness;

Drive or the inner motivation to pursue goals.

Leadership motivation, which is the use of socialized power to influence employees to succeed.

Integrity, which includes truthfulness and the will to translate words into deeds.

Self-confidence that leads others to feel confident, usually exhibited through various forms of impression management directed at employees.

Intelligence, which is usually focused on the ability to process information, analyzes alternatives, and discovers opportunities.

Knowledge of the hospitality business, so that ideas that are generated help the organization to survive and thrive.

Emotional intelligence, based on a self monitoring personality, making quality leaders strong in situation sensitivity and the ability to adapt to circumstances as needed.

The helicopter factor that is the ability to rise above a situation and analyze it objectively.

Eradicate conflicts caused due to cultural diversity among people of different backgrounds.

After reviewing the BHA’s intended and planned strategy devised by the leading team, it was inferred that the organization is operating under a well established set pattern through continual involvement of its leaders in directing the staff to work willingly and to the best of their capabilities to achieve the organization’s objectives. For this purpose, several workshops and seminars have been conducted across the organization to educate the leaders and workers about the importance of leadership in accomplishment of tasks and the success of the business in general. Clearly the leader can only work effectively with his/her subordinates when their concerns are also considered. That is why at the overall organization level, such skills are valued significant not merely in terms of managing people but also for their personal and professional grooming, self confidence, satisfaction and high morale.

In 1967, Blake and Mouton produced a grid in which the performance of the leader was evaluated in terms of two constraints that are concerned for the production or tasks and concern for the people as follows;

From the above diagrammatic model, which is known as "Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid", we can see five different positions of a manager as a leader for effective management.

The point 1.1 shows that manager is lazy and has neither concern for the tasks nor for the people. Such a manager is totally ineffective and cannot attain productivity. In addition, if we move horizontally across the grid, there is a point 9.1 which show that manager is only concerned about the tasks and production and almost all the concerns of the people are ignored and thus the manager will not be able to develop its subordinates. Moreover, there is a point 1.9 on the grid which shows that the interests of the people are given preference at the expense of the tasks. Hence, tasks are ignored and such a manager will obviously not produce anything positive. Further, we move to the point 5.5 which is indicative of the fact that manager has taken both things together at certain level for a satisfactory but not a high level of output. Lastly, there is a point 9.9 (Team) which shows a highly effective and efficient manager by taking both things along to achieve high and optimum level of performance. In this way the manager not only develops the people but tasks are also accomplished effectively.

However, the above model of managing people is not easily feasible for an organization which has a culturally diverse workforce having different motives, beliefs and attitudes. The BHA’s workforce comprises of individuals of almost 72 countries all over the world. The diversity has numerous implications and raises issues among the staff workers as follows;

Hindrance in the process of communication

Conflicts due to disagreement among peers caused by difference in opinions, values and beliefs

Discrimination among workers on the basis of color, race, caste, cultural, political and economical background.

Unnecessary increased costs since workers need to be trained to manage workforce diversity

But the BHA’s management counters these problems by an adaptive approach to manage such workforce diversity. This includes implementation of a strategic plan which includes;

Proper staffing and recruitment on unbiased basis. Since BHA is an equal opportunity employer and it wants to create a culture of equality, justice and freedom of speech. Everybody has got equal rights and there is no discrimination on any basis.

Trainings and workshops to create awareness among workers so that they would be able to better communicate with each other and incorporating an element of empathy.

The following section of the report elaborates the individual leaders and the organizations coping strategies to deal with workforce diversity.

Individual Leaders Approaches to Enhance Diversity

Individual approaches to enhance diversity can be achieved by two paths;

Learning

This is based on acquiring real or stimulated experience by means of open communication with people of diversified background in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, religion or those who are mentally or physically challenged. However, this is not a simple task and the individual has to modify his or her personal style according to the context. This means if somebody is communicating with a person who has hearing disability then the individual must have to impart such non-verbal cues so that the person can understand what was being said to him or her.

Once communicated, there is something arise that is called feedback. Feedback may be constructive or negative; however, it is the ability of individual leader to grasp which can only enhanced by continually practicing

Empathy

Empathy is defined as entering into someone’s feelings and looking things from that person’s point of view. It is important because members in the diverse group often feel that only they can truly understand

The problems they are facing. It is rightly said that ‘only a person who wears the show know where it pinches’. That is why it is important for every individual to understand the feelings by analyzing the situation from the other’s point of view.

BHA’s Strategic Approach to enhance diversity

Testing

BHA enhances diversity by implementing testing techniques such that there should be no bias in the testing procedures. The testing procedures must be able to identify whether the individual has the necessary competencies and skills to perform the desired tasks of the job.

Training

BHA conducts diversity training programs intended to train and educate its employees on prohibition of racial discrimination, biases on the basis if social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Mentoring

The purpose of the mentor program is to help support members of a diverse group in their jobs, socialize them in the cultural values of the organization, and pragmatically help their chances for development and advancement.

Work/Family Programs

Through the organization’s work family programs, the needs of the dual career family have been met through alternative work schedules which allow the parents flexibility in balancing their home and work demands. The most common alternative work schedule arrangements are flextime, the compressed workweek, job sharing, and telecommuting, but there are also some newer programs that help balance work and family as well.

BHA’s Adopted Style of Leadership

BHA believes on the fact that a democratic style of leadership suits the organization because every single worker will have a right to take part in the important decisions and thus everyone gives his/her contribution about the possible courses of action for a task. This is because it boosts the morale of the workers by reinforcing their confidence and level of motivation. In a democratic working environment each employee has a freedom to express his/her point of view so that the leaders are aware of the issues that arise from the grass root level. For example, when a waiter addresses the guest and takes an order at a restaurant he is absolutely well versed with the nature of job he is doing and obviously can suggest better possibilities in the improvement of the catering management.

This democratic style of leadership has also helped BHA to manage workforce diversity as everyone has a right to express hi/her opinion regardless of his age, sex, color, linguistic, cultural and economical background. It eradicates resentment and disguise feelings on the part of workers caused by favoritism and biasness. Hence by adopting such a participative style, it contributes to the BHA’s workforce smooth flow of operations as follows;

Motivation. Participation contributes to identifying and establishing group goals and how they can be accomplished. It also contributes to intrinsic motivation by enriching subordinate jobs through variety, autonomy and empowerment

Quality. There is an old saying that "two heads are better than one". In many cases this is true of participation. Subordinates may have knowledge and expertise that leaders may not have, thus this combination of leader and subordinate expertise can lead to higher quality processes and solutions. In addition, the qualities of empowerment allow employees to take direct action to solve problems.

Acceptance. Participation can increase subordinates acceptance of the decision since they were involved in making the decision in the first place. Further, there is also a better chance of subordinates seeing decisions as being more fair when they have had input into these decisions.

BHA’s approach towards Motivation

Generally speaking, successful leaders know what they want, have a clear path to achieving it, and are driven by intrinsic rewards. Whether it’s Maslow need for self actualization Alderfer’s growth needs or McClelland‘s need for power, leaders are driven by a need for success and achievement.

BHA’s managers believe that keeping the employees motivated is very important as it greatly affect the performance of the workers. A highly motivated employee is more committed towards his/her job and thus continues to work with dedication in the interest of the organization. But the question here arises what factors make the workers motivated so that they willingly perform their duties. According to one of BHA line manager "Keeping the workers motivated is not an easy task. It requires efforts on both sides". Therefore, motivation comes through consideration on both sides on the part of employer and employee alike. It was evident that when the employee joins the organization has different level of motivation as the time goes he/she gets fed up by seeing the same faces every day. Not restricted to this there are so many other factors which invariably affect the level of motivation of an individual while working in an organization.

Thus, the research conducted on commitment has shown that employees with higher organizational commitment engage in organizational citizen and this, in turn, results in better performance and higher work motivation that are beneficial to the organization. So employees’ productivity is largely related to their motivation levels and a higher level of organizational commitment.

BHA’s managers approach to manage workforce motivation

The management and leadership believe on the motivation of its workforce as one of the main factor towards the success of its business. Only a motivated staff can serve the guests with courteous and a positive attitude and this in turn enhances the corporate image. For this purpose, the managers of the BHA adopt the following ways;

Make groups and teams on the basis of compatibility so that there is no friction between the workers in executing tasks. In this way, the impact of diversity is circumvented.

Adopt a style of leadership by involving staff and workers in the decision making process.

Providing regular feedback on the performance and appraise the work done.

Giving constructive criticism that do not harm the workers’ morale for improvements

Allocating work to individuals on the basis of his/her capacity, interest and competency

Giving challenging work to boost the employee’s creativity.

Proper guidance, training, mentoring and qualitative supervision for the performing tasks

Open communication and eliminating formal barriers by adoption of an open door policy.

Motivation Survey Analysis across BHA

For the purpose of analyzing the BHA’s employees’ motives and interests while working in such a culturally diverse organization, survey sheet in the form of multiple options questionnaire was circularized to a sample of 50 employees of divergent backgrounds. The respondents were asked to rank the survey’s ten factors according to how important each is motivating them as employees, to do their best job or work. The most important item was to be ranked 1 and the least important factors was to be assigned the number 10. All items had to be ranked and no rank could be used more than once. The respondents were also asked to indicate their;

Gender

Current age range

Employment Status

Annual Income

The summary of the results of above analysis of the survey is given in the following table;

Motivational Factors

Subgroups reporting higher positive significance for a factor's importance

 

Employment Status

Gender

Age

Income

Working conditions

Part-timers

Women

 

£ 1,000 

Quality of supervision

Full-timers

Women

 

 £ 3,000 

Interesting tasks

Full timers

Men

 

 £ 4,000 

Promotion and growth in the job

Full-timers

Men

 

 £ 1,000 

Rewards/Monetary Benefits

Full-timers

Men

 

 £ 1,000 

Given Responsibility

Part-timers

Women

 

 £ 2,000 

Have a say in decisions

Full-timers

Women

 

 £ 2,000 

Constructive feedback on performance

Full-timers

Women

 

 £ 3,000 

Job security

Part-timers

Men

 

 £ 1,000 

Company loyalty to employees

Full-timers

Men

 

 £ 2,000 

Commentary on the Results of Survey Analysis

From the above summary, we can clearly see different priorities of people of different sub-groups that motivate them to work. It was evident from that good working condition is the priority of a fresh part timer, woman and those employees who have average income of £ 1,000. Good working conditions include a harmonious environment, drug free place, proper lightning, clean office premises and moderate policies rather stringent policies in terms of time keeping and short deadlines. Apart from this, workers were asked about the quality of supervision which envisaged that full time employees of which particularly female workers preferred quality of supervision as a motivation factor. They believe that the performance of their work is totally dependent on the skills and competence of their immediate supervisor who is responsible for giving them proper instructions of the task in hand that how it will be done? What is the scope of the work and a proper guidance as to set of procedures to be performed and the anticipated deadline? Moreover, there are few employees for example, accounts clerks who are facing monotony as a biggest challenge in the workplace. That is why, for them creative and interesting task is a motivating factor which includes mainly male workers. Promotion and growth in a job is a motivating factor for employees who are working in a department in which there is a flat hierarchy and frequency of promotions are low these include Kitchen supervisors and dish washers. However, the same types of workers have an urge for monetary benefit as they are earning an average salary of £ 1,000 per month. It was observed that few female internees who are doing an internship seek to gain responsibility as a motivating factor. However, there are few female workers who are working on full time basis seek for having a say in the decisions and a constructive feedback on the performance of the job they are doing. Lastly, there are few part time workers mostly including butlers preferred job security as a motivating factor.

Recommendations and Conclusions

In the purview of the above discussion, it has been inferred that BHA needs to devise a vision through strategic innovatory leadership skills for its managers to implement in an effective way by keeping the workforce motivated to ensure that it continues to meet to the expectations of its worthy customers. For achieving this purpose, the leaders should take concerns of its employees and must develop an empathic relationship to understand the needs, motives, beliefs and attitudes of their subordinates. The above survey showed that due to diversity in the workforce, there has been also a divergent set of motives and needs of every individual for which the leaders must give importance for smooth flow of operations.

The catering service, waiter staff and restaurant’s individual department functions should work collaboratively as a team oriented organization. To contain and grow effective team leaders, catering service providers need to provide consistent training on maintaining and improving leadership abilities. As individual leaders in any position, the following points should be discussed and incorporated into the team; be trustworthy and honest, display the ability to work with others, maintain personal appearance and hygiene, develop excellent communication skills, be adaptable and demonstrate understanding , increase knowledge and skill level and must demonstrate a high level of commitment to the organization. Thus, to sum up leadership commitment and support, every individual leader should;

Choose where to focus his/her improvement efforts

Define process excellence and set clear goals

Actively participate in process improvement efforts

Assign staff and resources optimally

Provide visible support for processes improvement efforts

Monitor progress and hold people accountable

Clear obstacles to successful implementation

Recognize and celebrate accomplishments

By incorporating such elements, the leader cannot only accomplish tasks but also maintain a cordial and jovial relationship with his subordinates and is truly admired by them. The subordinates start to work effectively and efficiently with full motivation at their utmost capacities. Thus, in this way he /she will act as a role model and inspired by hi/her ‘charisma’

In turn the BHA as a whole should consider the following points to increase effective leadership within the organization; lines of communication must be kept open to ensure subordinates understand the mission and evaluate how their actions fit into the mission, responsibilities should be properly defined so members know what is expected of them, consistency in actions and decision making should be displayed, department members must learn from past mistakes by finding the reason for the mistake, members should exhibit honesty and integrity while growing their individual characteristics, be yourself, empower department members at all levels to help them grow, be willing to take risks, and finally have a sense of humor. These recommendations are not department specific and they can be implemented in any department. To conclude what is discussed above, the final recommendation is to re-evaluate the organization on a quarterly basis as to the status of improving leadership abilities throughout the organization.

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