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Introduction
Empowering workers is one way of motivating workers and increasing the performance of an organization. Employees of an organization (that poorly performs) can be motivated by being given more responsibilities and opportunities to make some of the critical decisions within the company (Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle, 2011). However, it is possible that performance of an organization can deteriorate despite attempts to motivate the workers. This is what happened at Regency Grand Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
The hotel had been in operation for fifteen years after establishment by a group of investors. The hotel was later acquired by an American group of hotels, and the general manager took early retirement. He was replaced by an American with vast experience in management. The American, John Becker, had previously managed to make poorly performing hotels to be profitable. He aimed at motivating the workers at Regency Grand Hotel by empowering them, but failed. This paper reviews the performance of the hotel under the leadership of John Becker. The analysis is done through the use of theories explaining workers’ motivation.
Analysis of the Case
Becker believes in the motivation of workers as one of the ways of improving performance. He managed to make nonperforming hotels productive and profitable through motivation. As indicated earlier, Becker believes in enhancing the productivity of workers through empowerment. He expected the workers to be customer-oriented as this would enable them offer excellent customer care services.
However, workers performed poorly even after being given powers to make decisions on their own. This begs the question; “Why did the workers perform poorly even after being given more freedom?” They could make decisions and could emerge with new ideas yet the performance of the hotel was still low! This could be explained by theories that seek to explain reasons why workers may perform poorly after attempts are made to motivate them.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1917) suggested that money was the main motivator of workers of any company (Lauby, 2005). It is, therefore, possible that Becker tried to motivate the workers by empowering them, yet increase in pay was the only way that they could have been motivated. According to his explanation, workers are motivated when their pay is high. He noted that employees do not usually enjoy their work and that they should be given appropriate training so as to work effectively (Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle, 2011). This, therefore, means that the workers at Regency Grand Hotel could have been performing poorly because of the poor pay. Becker should have, therefore, increased their pay so as to make them work hard.
They should also have had proper training so as to provide proper customer care services. In this way, the workers would have achieved the goals that Becker had, motivating the workers, achieving excellent customer care services and increasing the performance of the hotel. However, this theory has faults, since we are not told the pay that the workers received for their services. It is possible that the Regency Grand Hotel pays the workers extremely well and has taken the workers for various trainings so as to improve their output. In addition, they received instructions from the managers, which is one of the proposals made by Taylor.
The other explanation can be made through the theory by Elton Mayo (1880-1949), who believed that there are many factors to consider when motivating workers. He noted that a high pay for the workers alone does not motivate workers. He noted that better communication between workers and managers, involvement of the managers and team work motivates workers (Lauby, 2005).
Becker got involved in the operations of the workers and had constant contact with them. This should have motivated the workers. He also gave them freedom to bring ideas and make decisions. They, however, continued to perform poorly, and customers were not happy with the general services that they received. The explanation for this could be that they did not work as a team. The supervisors often reversed the minor decisions that the workers had made. This showed that they were not working as a team.
The effect of reversion of decisions made by workers, therefore, had the effect of countering the gains made by Becker. Frequent consultations that the supervisors made also show the lack of teamwork at Regency Grand Hotel. In addition, the managers and supervisors found it difficult to shift from giving workers instructions to workers making decisions on their own. They found the transition difficult and could not adjust faster and thus had to consult Becker. It is also not indicated whether they coached the workers on how to handle difficult situations. This had the effect of demoralizing Becker and hence more poor performance.
The fact that the supervisors revised some of the decisions made by the workers, however, does not explain the reason why they continued to perform poorly. An assumption can be made that the decisions the supervisors turned down do not have a direct association with the output of the workers. It is also possible that they received significant pay for their services. Then, why do they perform poorly under these good conditions? The Neo-Human Relations theories by Abraham Maslow, explains that there are psychological factors that must be considered to motivate workers (Lauby, 2005).
There exist five levels of needs that workers seek to satisfy at the work place. The first level involves the physiological needs which comprise food and water. The Regency Grand Hotel could have satisfied these needs of the workers. This could have been so since assumption has been made that the hotel pays the workers extremely well. The second level is security concerns of workers. This could also be satisfied at the hotel since the workers can afford shelter and clothing. The third level is love and a sense of belonging. This could not have been satisfied since the workers decisions are turned round by the supervisors. They may not feel as being part of the hotel, hence poor performance.
The fourth level of Maslow’s human needs is self actualization (Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle, 2011). This involves achievement that workers can attain at the work place and meet their goals. Self actualization can be achieved through promotions and recognition of exemplary services that workers have done. There is a possibility that performance of the workers was low since their dreams could not be actualized. Some could have worked for unusually long time at the hotel and have never received any promotion. In addition, the motivation that one worker requires is different from the kind of motivation that another worker can require.
Finally, performance could have been low due to organizational culture and structure. The workers could have been more used to receiving instruction from the supervisors and thus found it difficult to decide on their own. Additionally, they could have become used to the rigid structure in the company and thus were not ready to change. In addition, organizational change is usually difficult to implement (Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle, 2011). The supervisors could not cope with the new ways of decision making communication and leadership style required.
Solutions and Recommendations
Becker and the management of the hotel should enhance the performance of workers and the general performance of the hotel. One of the solutions to the problem facing Regency Grand Hotel is proper training of the staff on duties and teamwork. This will solve the problem of poor performance in service delivery. The workers and the supervisors can be informed about the benefits of team work. The supervisors should not reverse every decision made by the workers as this demoralizes them. Team building sessions can be organized by John Becker so as to integrate all the personnel at the hotel (Lauby, 2005).
In addition, the supervisors should be informed on which decisions are considered vital and which ones are minor. This will solve the problem of decisions being reversed by the supervisors. They should undergo leadership and capacity development training so that they become more responsible and not to consult the general manager on every issue. The general manger should also consider training and sacking some of the workers and supervisors who find it hard adjust to the new system of management and leadership. This is because their actions counter the gains that are made through empowerment. The consequence of such an action will be to make all workers work efficiently. However, sacking of some workers may intimidate the other workers and be counterproductive.
The hotel should also motivate the workers by giving them promotions, gifts, and recognition of achievements they make. The organizational structure of the company should also enable flexibility and promote integration so that workers feel that they are part of the hotel (Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle, 2011). However, the absolute solution for the hotel is to design a system of organizational change that is integrated and incorporates the needs of the workers.
Conclusions
Empowerment of workers and organizational change are some of the most challenging issues that organizations face. Regency Grand Hotel is an organization that went through these challenges after it was acquired by an American chain of hotels. A new general manager, who is competent and has record of outstanding performance, was appointed. He implemented new policies with the aim of improving performance, but failed. This paper discussed some of the issues that could have caused the failure. The paper used motivational theories to explain the failure.
One theory proposed that performance was low due to poor pay of the workers. The second explanation proposes that there is the lack of team work and some of the managers and supervisors are rigid and do not want to adopt new methods of management. Additionally, the third theory proposes that the workers have not attained self actualization and a sense of belonging in the hotel hence poor performance. The goal of any intervention strategy that the general manager and management may adopt has to aim at improving the performance of the workers and the hotel. The methods that can be used are team building, training or sacking of some workers and enabling flexibility in management.
References
Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.
Robbins, S., Judge, T., Millett, B. & Boyle, M. (2011). Organisational Behaviour; Sixth Edition. Pearson: Frenchs Forest.
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