Question

Case Study: The Impact of Covid-19 on Event Cinemas (Please DO NOT COPY the PREVIOUS ANSWER)!!

Event Cinemas plans to make staff redundant as it copes with the impact of Covid-19 on its business. It said it had been affected by: the lockdown, changes in the future film line-up; the impact of coronavirus and the public health response to the pandemic. It was starting a consultation process with staff and unions to reduce its workforce. Unite Union said the cinema chain wanted to reduce labour by 50 per cent.

Carmen Switzer, general manager of Events Cinemas New Zealand said:

“The efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus globally has impacted the planned release of new films and the measures put in place under level 2 restrict the number of customers able to access cinemas. The reality is in order to preserve as many jobs as we can in the long term and ensure we remain in a good position to get through this crisis we have made the difficult – but essential – decision to work with our teams to reduce our workforce. This will mean starting the process of redundancies and entering a consultation period with staff. Unfortunately, like many other businesses, we are not exempt from the impact of this pandemic. We are committed to working openly and honestly with our people during this time, supporting them in the best way we can.”

Cinema chains are struggling because producers don't want to deliver films to show in empty theatres. A significant problem for them is a lack of films to show.

Switzer said:

"The re-opening of Event Cinemas NZ is dependent on both the global film releases scheduled by the major Hollywood studios and Alert Level restrictions and how they apply to cinemas. For multiplex cinemas it will not be viable to fully re-open until the next major film dated for release which is Tenet, July 16. In the meantime, we are looking at how we may re-open on a limited basis with alternative and retrospective film content before mid-July.”

“We have invested in e-commerce to ensure we can meet social distancing requirements and developed sanitation plans that are being tested with customers and have been well-received. We will make further announcements about a formal re- opening date soon. We know our customers cannot wait to visit us and we look forward to welcoming audiences back to their local cinema."

Union spokesman John Crocker said negotiations were still under way to determine whether the chain's staff would have hours cut or be offered voluntary redundancy as an option. "A lot of businesses have struggled with restrictions around how they operate but cinemas are in a really difficult position because they don't have any product." He said it was possible that the extended wage subsidy could help them get through to the point where films could start showing again.

Cinemas can reopen at Alert Level 2 but must implement measures to ensure physical distancing between customers.

A typical Event cinema employs the following positions:

Management:

• General Manager - The General Manager oversees all activities within the cinema, ensuring that each department is operating within the required service standards and returning a profit to the business. They function as the primary strategic leader, creating, developing and implementing cinema strategies.

• Assistant Manager - This is a hands-on role supporting the General Manager in managing all facets of the cinema including revenue management, food and beverage, marketing, recruitment and training, customer service and achieving financial targets. A key part of this role is direct customer service.

• Supervisor - Supervisors can be appointed in any area of the cinema and are there to help the management team ensure the cinema functions run smoothly and efficiently.

• Duty Manager – Duty Managers assist in managing the day-to-day operation of the cinema to ensure customers’ expectations are exceeded whilst maximising profits.

Crew:

• Usher - Ushers need to know what movies are showing, their ratings, what the latest- release films are and need to work hard to keep facilities in top class shape for customers to enjoy every time they see a movie. This involves cleaning and maintaining the auditoriums, restrooms and foyers while managing access to the theatre and the auditoriums.

• Ticket Seller - This is a pivotal role in customer service as the first-person customers interact with. Using state-of-the-art ticketing software, this role is responsible for selling tickets, voucher and movie products and keeping customers informed about all the latest marketing and promotional campaigns on offer.

• Food & Beverage Crew - Their main responsibility is selling movie snacks and treats to customers and making sure the F&B outlets like Scoop Alley and Event bars and cafes look clean and inviting. There’s also a whole lot of behind the scenes preparation work that goes on to make sure that the food and drink products are ready to sell when the doors are open.

Gold Class: The Gold Class crew involves a number of different roles, but the primary focus of each one is providing amazing guest service in this luxury cinema environment:

• Bartender -The Bartender prepares quality drinks in a consistent way by following the recipe guidelines that are in place.

• Wait Staff/Runners - This role is all about greeting and welcoming guests and delivering the food and drinks in an efficient manner so not to interrupt guests’ movie experience. It also involves clearing, cleaning and resetting tables in the auditoriums and in the lounge.

• Cooks - Cooks need to be fast and efficient and able to produce great tasting food in a really short-time frame so not to keep guests waiting. Producing a consistent quality product is also a vital part of this role and Event has standard recipe guidelines to help with this.

Event Cinemas NZ is a subsidiary company of Australia Stock Exchange-listed Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd, a corporation that owns and operates a number of subsidiary businesses in the entertainment and hospitality sectors within Australasia. Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd’s key subsidiary businesses in the hospitality sector include Rydges and QT hotels while Event Cinemas is a key business in the entertainment sector across Australasia. As the parent company Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd operates under a divisional structure with separate subsidiary businesses grouped on product/service lines.

a) What is a divisional structure? Use an organisational chart to explain your answer. Compare a divisional structure with a functional structure. Refer to Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd to explain your answer.

b) Give two reasons why a divisional structure based on product lines might be appropriate for Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd.

c) Outline one circumstance when it might be appropriate for Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd to change its organisational structure to a divisional structure based on geographic rather than product/service lines.

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Answer 1

Organisational structure shows the pattern of relationships among the positions and jobs within an organisation.

A) divisional structure - in an organisation when the departments are made on the basis of the product, the structure is called divisional structure.

• it is the type of structure which is suitable for large organisations which have various product line or which operating in various products.
• and this method a separate business unit or department or division is created for each major product of the company.
• each unit has divisional manager who is responsible for all the functions of that particular product.
• Every manager operates as multi functional unit head.
• Each division in the divisional structure is the the profit centre with the divisional head is responsible for profit or loss of his division.

Comparison between functional structure and divisional structure--

*Functional structure is grouping of the jobs of similar nature under one department whereas divisional structure is based on jobs of a product under one department.

*Functional structure leads to to operational specialisation in a manager where as divisional structure bring product specialisation in a manager.

*Functional structure is economical where is the divisional structure may lead to duplication of activities and so it is far more expensive then functional structure.

*Functional structure is formed on the basis of functions whereas divisional structure may be based on the products that are being produced by the company.

*Functional structure may have less chances of overall development of the manager as the manager will be specialised in one function only e while in divisional structure the manager will be performing all the functions related to a product, will be having autonomy for taking his own decisions related to his product, therefore managerial development is higher in divisional structure.

In the case given divisional structure can be having having the general manager on the top, the appointed as assistant managers for ticket food and beverages etc will be on the second level of management, Hindi will be assisted by the the supervisors and crew.

B) divisional structures are generally suitable for organisations which have large number of products, in this case also there are many activities and facilities to be provided to the customers. Therefore divisional structure would be suitable.

Even if the organisation need to add some more lines of facilities, it can be done easily.

The responsibility of each department would be clearly fixed which is very necessary at this time of pandemic that all do their duty properly.

C) divisional structure could be converted into to area based structure men the organisation starts operating in many regions or or in different markets.