Question

Course: Organization Desgin & Development

The Plaza Inn

OVERVIEW

David Bart, General Manager of the Plaza Inn, received a letter from the hotel association of which the Plaza Inn was a member. The letter stated that the hotel's service levels did not measure up and that the front desk and reservations, two critical departments, received the worst ratings among all of the association's properties. Unless the management of the Plaza Inn could submit a plan for guest service improvement and pass the next inspection scheduled in six months, its membership would be rescinded. In fact, at the Plaza Inn, the inability to efficiently expedite phone calls and respond to guest needs was troubling to Bart, not only from a guest service perspective, but also from the standpoint of lost revenue. QUESTIONS

1. What structural change is indicated at the Plaza Inn?

2. How could the Plaza Inn develop a collaborative strategy?

3. How could technology help solve the problems at the front desk?

4. What changes in culture are needed at the Plaza Inn?

Learning outcomes

Evaluate organizational structure on the frame of its strategy

Understand the different elements and issues of organizations development and creating the need for change.

Understand the strategic roleofchange in the organization and its impact on organizational performance Identify and apply the basic steps of the organizational development process

Understand the human, structural and strategic dimensions of the organizational development

Realize the ethical issues of the organizational development.

Answer 1

1.

Plaza Inn must be having a functional structure since in this type of structure, departmentalization is done on the basis of chief functions carried out by the organization. Moreover, a functional structure offers various advantages in the form of economies of scale within a specific function, specialization, better coordination, enhanced skill development, ease of training and others.

Plaza Inn should continue with functional structure as this is the most suitable structure for the organization. However, the organization should use some Intervention Techniques such as skill development especially in the areas of answering phone calls and attending guests, and other on-the-job and off-the-job training methods such as coaching, sensitivity training, business simulation and others.

2.

Plaza Inn should try to enhance more cooperation and collaboration among the different departments or functions. The organization should carry out some team building exercises from time to time. An Organizational Development (OD) Consultant may be utilized during these team building exercises to make them more effective.

Other OD Intervention Techniques may also be employed by the company such as Survey Feedback, Techno-structural Activities and Organizational Culture Change.

Formation of Quality Circles by employees of different departments may also be encouraged by the organization so that innovative solutions related to quality aspects of the various operations will emerge in a collective manner.

3.

The front desk should procure and install a good EPABX (Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange) machine for efficient call transferring and forwarding. It should also use IVR (Interactive Voice Response) System to respond to routine customer queries and even registration of complaints. Further, the services of a Call Center may be utilized to handle customer complaints and queries.

4.

Plaza Inn should go for an open and collaborative work culture. It should not have too many binding rules and regulations. Rather, a culture of creativity and innovation should be promoted (such as tolerance for risk taking by the employees), like in Google. Moreover, the organization should reward its employees from time to time through “Employee of the month” awards, bonuses and others.

There should often be organization sponsored parties and celebrations (such as in Southwest Airlines) to instill a vibrant and enthusiastic work environment.