Managing People

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CavendishHallHotelInformationPack.docx

The Cavendish Hall Hotel Information Pack

5HR515 (Managing Performance through People)

*Please read this booklet carefully and bring it with you to every seminar session.

Table of Contents

1. The Assignment Case Study 3

2. The Divisional Managers Brief 6

3. The Young Managers Brief 7

4. Front Office Manager: Job Description and Person Specification 8

5. Behavioural Ranking Scales (BARS) – The Cavendish Hotel Group 9

Customer Focus 9

Planning and Organizing Work 10

Developing a Successful Team 11

Building Trust 12

6. What will happen in the Appraisal Practical? 13

7. Appraisal Practical Feedback Sheet 15

8. Appraisal Form 17

1. The Assignment Case Study

Daphne Jones has recently been appointed as HR manager of the Cavendish Hall Hotel, a 200 bedroom, four-star county house hotel, located in rolling hills a few miles south of a major northern industrial conurbation. The hotel provides a wide range of conference and banqueting facilities and is a popular wedding location. It employs a range of full time, part time and temporary seasonal staff across 5 departments: Events and Banqueting, Rooming and Reception, Housekeeping, Food and Beverages, HR and Administration. The organisations aims to be “The regions number one venue choice for events and conferencing”. They aim to deliver through a strategy of personalised customer service experience, bespoke events packages, competitive pricing and an outstanding accommodation and restaurant experience.

The hotel operates a formal annual appraisal scheme which, as part of a new performance management system, has been linked to an individual performance related pay scheme. Each member of staff receives a one per cent salary increase irrespective of performance to take account of the increased cost of living. The hotels line managers must then assess each member of staff in their team as either Excellent, Good, Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory based on their individual performance over 12 months and this is used to determine any further pay rises.

An interim appraisal review is also conducted after six months. The purpose of this review is to focus on the career aspirations and learning and development requirements of employees. These are conducted by the same line manager who is responsible for feeding back relevant information to the HR department to help form the hotels talent development strategy.

Despite the scheme the hotel manager has discussed ongoing performance problems with Daphne. The hotel has received some poor reviews from guests concerning levels of customer service and room cleanliness on Trip Advisor UK:

“The staff try hard but lack the professionalism of a 4/5 hotel to compete. I will stay in the hotel over the road next time as much better value for money in my opinion.”

“Yesterday I forgot my key. After running miles to the reception, they gave me another key which still didn’t work. No fresh orange juice at breakfast.”

“Booked four nights for a very special occasion but checked out after two truly disappointing days. Service was not friendly or prompt. Our room had a flickering bathroom light that was never replaced.”

“I was surprised that standards have slipped so much. Staff are no longer friendly and ’on the ball’. I couldn't relax in my room as I was repeatedly interrupted by staff checking the room. Indifferent service in the bar, very slow checkout caused by only one member of staff being available to serve many customers. When an extra member of staff did appear to help with checkout and I mentioned the long delay she commented that she was busy on the phone.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly given these reviews, the hotel is also suffering from declining room occupancy rates which is now attracting negative attention from head office.

As a starting point to her investigations, Daphne has reviewed the latest employee engagement survey and has noted some apparent problems. In particular, Daphne has noticed that the engagement scores from the hotel rooming and reception department are lower than in the rest of the hotel. The scores for this department are also worse than in the previous year’s survey.

Rooming and Reception

Hotel

% agree

% agree

1. I know what is expected of me at work

63%

74%

2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right

67%

68%

3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day

71%

94%

4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work

35%

64%

5. My supervisor, or someone at work seems to care about me as a person

42%

72%

6. There is someone at work who encourages my development

47%

68%

7. At work, my opinions seem to count

29%

76%

8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important

73%

75%

9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work

84%

88%

10. I have a best friend at work

91%

94%

11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress

41%

65%

12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

46%

70%

The divisional manager tells Daphne he was involved in the appointment of an ambitious new manager to Rooming and Reception approximately 3 months ago. They have good hotel experience, working previously as a receptionist for three years, followed by 2 years as a team leader/supervisor in events and banqueting. He tells Daphne he has been pleased with this new manager’s progress. They are able and energetic and have already improved the efficiency of their work section by quickly re-organising some of the procedures and improving the methods used in the department.

Daphne checks the HR records and sees that paperwork has been returned indicating that this manager has completed the annual appraisals on all of his staff on time and she notices that they have all been set the same objectives around accuracy on paperwork and computer booking processes. While there are entries in the appraisal paperwork in the section on development there have been no requests for training and development from the department according to her training administrator. Checking the key HR metrics for the department she also notes that sickness absence in this department has increased well above the hotel average. On average the department has lost 8 days per year to sickness absence compared to 5.3 in the hotel as a whole.

Daphne presses the Divisional Manager for more information about the young manager and he tells her that, on reflection, he walks around the department whenever he is in the hotel and on several occasions he has passed by the manager talking to staff members and noticed the tone of their voice was sharp. Now he thinks about it, on a couple of occasions he thinks some of the staff members might actually have looked upset. He has also over-heard conversations between staff members where the manager’s name has been mentioned in connection with bad attitudes. Just the other day an accounting clerk made some harsh comments about the manager’s attitude and complained about the way he had spoken to her when he identified an error in her banking paperwork. He says he has observed the manager holding morning meetings with his team but these seem to be quite short and focused on the allocation of tasks for the day.

2. The Divisional Managers Brief

You are a Divisional Manager in the Cavendish Hotel Group. You have 10 Front Office Managers in different hotels who report to you, each of whom is directly responsible for a small team of staff and liaison with staff and managers throughout their hotel to quickly resolve guest queries or complaints. One of them was appointed 3 months ago following an internal advertisement and a selection procedure in which you took part. Previously they had worked for 3 years as a receptionist followed by 2 years as a team leader/supervisor in events and banqueting. They are young, only 25 years old, and married with one child. This manager is now in charge of a group of 10 mainly mature ladies responsible for hotel reception and reservation services at the Cavendish Hall Hotel including the daily banking procedures.

Current Situation

You are generally satisfied with the new Managers progress. They are able and energetic and have already improved the efficiency of their work section by re-organising some of the procedures and improving the methods. You are a little uncertain however whether they are adopting the right approach to the staff. Before they took over the job, you had a meeting with them in your office and among other things, advised them to start carefully, particularly bearing in mind the contrast between their existing colleagues, being their own age or younger, and the new staff most of them older and with a long background in the department.

You don’t have much evidence there may be a problem but you do walk around the department most days and on several occasions you have passed by the manager talking to staff members. You haven’t been able to hear what was being said, but you could hear the tone of their voice was sharp and see the expression on the face of staff members looking upset. You have also over-heard conversations between staff members where the manager’s name has been mentioned in connection with bad attitudes. You have tried to keep an eye on this situation and have come to the conclusion that the manager’s approach may be creating friction with some of the staff.

The other evidence was supplied by the accounting clerk. You always make a point of talking to her for a moment when you pass by. The other day she mentioned “that young manager wants to watch their step or they’ll get a swollen head”. You don’t like listening to tales, but you couldn’t stop the clerk. She said that a week ago she had made an error on the daily banking documents. The manager had been around at the time and had pointed this out to her. You understood that the clerk did not object to being corrected when making mistakes, but she felt that the Manager had been very undiplomatic in the way they had done so. You are afraid that bad feelings may be building up throughout the department and that this might come to affect the output.

This is the major problem you want to raise with the manager in the appraisal interview. You don’t think they have done any real harm yet but you are anxious to prevent any difficulties arising in the future. You also know the manager might take offence, but that if you can put him on the right track now, they will be a valuable manager in the future.

3. The Young Managers Brief

You are a front office manager at the Cavendish Hall Hotel. You are 25 years old, married, with one child. You were appointed to the manager’s role 3 months ago following an internal advertisement and a selection procedure. Previously you worked for 3 years as a receptionist followed by 2 years as a team leader/supervisor in events and banqueting. You are now responsible for the management of a team of 10, mainly mature ladies and hotel reception and reservation services at the hotel including the daily banking procedures. You must also liaise with staff members and managers throughout the hotel to quickly resolve guest queries or complaints. This is the first time that you have worked with older people, being used to working with young teams of students on part time casual contracts in events and banqueting. However you are ambitious to get on and determined to succeed. At the same time you are a little sensitive to criticism.

Current Situation

The age of your staff members vary from 28 to 55 and most of them are nearer the top of the range. Before you took over the Divisional Manager had a talk with you and amongst other things, advised you to be sensitive at the start – bearing in mind the contrast between the banqueting colleagues and your new staff. You were naturally a little concerned yourself at the beginning, but you were pleasantly surprised by the fact that it has not seemed as difficult as you imagined it would be. You have at least managed to keep control of your staff.

You have re-organised some of the procedures to eliminate bottlenecks and introduced some new methods. These changes have improved efficiency. Further grounds for your confidence include:

· The fact that on several occasions members of your staff have experienced difficulties, and in spite of you being quite new in the setup, you have managed to spot the difficulty and help them sort it all out. You know yourself to be a quick thinker and this has helped you considerably.

· There is an accounting clerk in your section, responsible to the Head of Internal Audit. She is a long serving member of the department and is 48 years of age. About a fortnight ago she made an error in the calculations on the daily banking documentation. You happened to be there at the time, and when you looked at the calculations, you showed them to the clerk, and after a brief discussion she agreed she had made a mistake and corrected them.

In fact, generally you feel you have cause to be pleased with the way things have gone for you and you are looking forward to the performance appraisal.

4. Front Office Manager: Job Description and Person Specification

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Rooms Divisional Manager, the Front Office Manager is in charge of reception and the switchboard. Responsible for welcoming guests and handling any complaints, he or she:

· Supervises reservations and the allocation of bedrooms with the Executive Housekeeper

· Monitors the customer accounts and till accounts

· Applies and ensures the application of the sales strategy to maximise occupancy and average room price

· Co-ordinates the reception team, organising its work and schedules

Key Responsibilities

· To monitor the quality of welcome extended to guests

· To recruit, train and motivate the members of his or her team

· To ensure that all hotel standards and procedures are applied

· To manage daily billing and payments

Skills

· Use of Windows

· The ability to train and motivate a team

· The ability to be available to work nights, weekends or public holidays

· Sales ability

· Hospitality

· Adaptability: coping with the diversity of customers and their needs

· Self-sufficiency

· Self-control: handling complaints

· Good relationship skills

· Team leadership

· Good memory: remembering guests

· Taking the initiative

· Discretion

·

Qualifications

· From A-levels to 2 years’ further education to HND standard or similar in Hotel or Tourism studies

· 4 years’ experience of reception

· Fluency in a second language is an advantage

· Good general level of education

· Significant experience of Fidelio (reservations system)

5. Behavioural Ranking Scales (BARS) – The Cavendish Hotel Group

Customer Focus

Making customers and their needs a primary focus of one’s actions; developing and sustaining productive customer relationships.

Unsatisfactory

· Inflexible or unwilling to take appropriate risks to meet the needs of the customer.

· Shows insensitivity and abruptness toward customers. Responds negatively and defensively to complaints.

· Provides incompetent answers or does not give any information at all.

· Does not accept responsibility for one’s actions and tasks. Makes excuses or blames others when problems are not solved.

· Does not listen to input from others. Responds untimely to feedback or complaints, if at all. Tends to avoid the customers.

· Uses existing rules or procedures to justify avoiding service to customer groups.

· Considers customer feedback as negative.

Satisfactory/Good

· Openly receives feedback on customer service. Listens to customer needs and does what is required to service customers.

· Takes into consideration how actions or plans will affect the customers and accommodates as necessary. Offers alternatives to situations and changes direction to better meet customer needs.

· Meets or exceeds customer expectations by providing accurate, complete information.

· Accepts responsibility and takes action to address customer needs.

· Seeks to understand the reason for customer’s needs. Adheres to time frames. Remains focused under pressure.

· Seeks out new customers and provides education on services provided.

· Openly accepts feedback.

Excellent

· Effectively prioritizes customer needs. Stays focused on customer’s needs and offers alternatives as appropriate. Responds to feedback in a timely manner.

· Builds excellent rapport and cooperative relationship with the customer, general public, and/or client.

· Cooperates/coordinates with other departments to satisfy customer needs.

· “Goes the extra mile” to satisfy customer needs and frequently exceeds customer expectations.

· Works to eliminate barriers that interfere with providing outstanding customer service.

· Welcomes and solicits feedback and constructive criticism.

Planning and Organizing Work

Establishing courses of action for self and others to ensure that work is completed efficiently.

Unsatisfactory

· Often does not seek the use of all resources to get the work done.

· Does not manage time well; fails to plan and allocate time and resources appropriately.

· Encounters an unusually high number of setbacks that delay work completion or project success.

· Has difficulty prioritizing actions; needs a great deal of direction.

Satisfactory/Good

· Identifies roadblocks to goal attainment and is able to adjust the plan to avoid them.

· Reorganizes work activities when setbacks or changing priorities are encountered.

· Follows up on progress toward plan of action in a timely manner. Completes tasks on time.

· Effectively prioritizes work activities of self and others.

Excellent

· Understands objectives of the organization and is able to leverage resources effectively.

· Effectively re-prioritizes tasks and projects as needed and ensures timely completion.

· Consistently completes tasks ahead of schedule.

· Anticipates the need for alternative courses of action and successfully implements contingencies in response to frequently changing demands; knows project status and risks at all times.

Developing a Successful Team

Using appropriate methods and a flexible interpersonal style to help develop a cohesive team; facilitating the completion of team goals.

Unsatisfactory

· Does not allow full involvement in decisions.

· Team members may generate ideas, but the leader makes all substantive decisions.

· Does not explain team goals and objectives and individual roles.

· Fails to provide the structure or support necessary for the team to function effectively.

· Allows one or more team members to unduly influence others.

· Does not allow team members to participate in the formulation of objectives.

Satisfactory/Good

· Provides opportunities for involvement of team members in all phases of the project.

· Listens and incorporates team members’ ideas in decisions; actively involves team in decision making.

· Ensures that all team members understand their roles and how they relate to those of other team members.

· Shares recognition with team.

· Monitors team progress toward goals and regularly provides feedback to the team regarding their progress.

· Ensures that all members are part of the decision-making process.

· Formulates team objectives and defines expected outcomes.

Excellent

· Consistently incorporates shared information into the process; creates an environment of openness and honesty.

· Values opinions of team members and acts to promote success of team.

· Consistently models the visions and values of the organization; builds a team committed to the same.

· Highly skilled in ensuring that all members and partners understand roles and objectives.

· Demonstrates partnership building skills; gives credit where credit is due.

· Regularly seeks feedback and provides necessary feedback to staff.

· Builds pride in team work and inspires members to excel.

· Effective in pulling from all sources relevant information to formulate team goals and objectives.

Building Trust

Interacting with others in a way that gives them confidence in one’s intentions and those of the organization.

Unsatisfactory

· Does not treat others in a consistent and fair manner; reverses decisions often; “plays favorites” with some subordinates.

· Does not keep confidential information or personal information to self; shares inappropriate information.

· Does not timely communicate important information to employees and customers. Does not address problems and acts indirectly and passively with others.

· Does not take personal responsibility and places blame on others when things go wrong.

· Does not routinely follow through on commitments, if at all.

Satisfactory/Good

· Interacts effectively with others. Is fair and consistent with staff. Treats others with respect.

· Is trustworthy with confidential information.

· Follows through on commitments and promises.

· Provides accurate information. Communicates openly and honestly with employees, peers, and supervisor.

· Accepts responsibility for one’s actions, regardless of the outcome.

Excellent

· Consistently treats people with respect and fairness. Instills good work ethics, provides guidance, and supports others.

· Always keeps confidential or personal information to self when appropriate.

· Clearly articulates directions to others and follows through at all times. Meets all commitments and avoids over-commitment.

· Consistently provides available information on a timely basis. Is open and honest in communications on difficult issues.

· Openly accepts responsibility for setbacks and less successful endeavors by self or team; discusses how to amend the situation in the future, including modification of own efforts or actions.

6. What will happen in the Appraisal Practical?

The role play will take place in your seminar next week. It is a compulsory activity and attendance will be closely monitored at this session.

Your tutor will organise you into groups of 3 or 4 and you will decide who will play which roles. There are three roles:

1. The interviewer

2. The interviewee

3. The observer (two observers if you are in a group of 4)

Note: You will repeat the activity three times rotating roles each time so you have the opportunity to experience all three roles.

In order to make this exercise as realistic as possible we would like you to prepare carefully. A real-life appraisal can last more than one hour so you will not have time to carry out a complete review. We would like you to aim to run a 20 minute appraisal meeting. In your planning document consider how you will divide up these 20 minutes into the different tasks you need to complete during the meeting. You are required to cover three key areas:

· Review the objectives that were set at the last meeting (these are shown on the appraisal form below)

· Agree at least one objective to be achieved by the next appraisal and any development required to achieve this.

· Discuss longer term career plans

Interviewer and the interviewee

· Carefully read the briefs in this pack (p6 & 7). Remember you may not have all the information you would like to make a full and accurate review, unfortunately this is often the same in ‘real life’ where it is rare for one person to know everything about a particular person or situation.

· Where the brief doesn’t give you sufficient details, you can make up your own facts and assumptions provided they do not conflict with the main brief.

· Do not treat the exercise as a game and try to outwit your opponent – either by facts you invent or the way you act in the interview.

· Play the role in a way that seems natural to you and consistent with the brief.

Observer

· Study the feedback sheet provided below.

· Sit in a position where you are out of direct line of sight with the role-players (so you don’t put them off), but you can clearly hear and see them.

· Be silent during the role-play. You should take no part in the session.

· Observe the role-play process in order to be able to give valuable feedback to the participants during the discussion afterwards.

· Make notes during the interview using the checklist provided. Remember to note examples of both good and bad practice. Do NOT simply use ticks and crosses. You will need to hand your feedback to the appraiser at the end of your discussion so please try to write clearly.

Post-exercise discussion

· Review the role-play. The observer should sum up first but the interviewer and interviewee should also discuss how they ‘felt’ during the interview and how they think it could have been improved from their perspective.

· Highlight the good things as well as the bad.

· Offer comments in a constructive and helpful way, illustrating them with specific examples whenever possible. Do not belittle any of the participants.

· Make notes for your own reference of the key things you have learnt from the activity.

7. Appraisal Practical Feedback Sheet

Appraiser: ……………………………………………..

Appraisee: ……………………………………………..

Observer: ……………………………………………….

Environment

· How well was a relationship established?

· How was it done?

· What was the climate like?

· How relaxed was the meeting?

Questioning skills

· Did they use an appropriate mix of question styles

· Did they use open questions to get the appraisee talking

· Did they ask the employee how they thought they had been performing?

· Did they use closed questions to clarify information where appropriate

· Did they use the funnel technique

· Did they probe for further information where appropriate

[Try to record some examples of different question types used]

Listening skills

· Did they demonstrate active listening skills

· Did they demonstrate positive body language

· Did they allow the speaker to finish

· Did they leave appropriate silences

· Did they ‘reflect back’ the appraisees comments

· Did they clarify details and check their understanding

Feedback skills

· Did they base the feedback on facts/observations

· Do they gain agreement with the appraisee about how well they performed

· Did they identify areas of strength

· Did they describe development areas confidently and clearly

· Did they help the appraisee explore how they could develop these areas

· Did they help the appraisee break development plans down into achievable steps

Agreement

· How far did they reach agreement on the waiting list managers performance and contribution to results?

· What got in the way of this?

· What did the appraiser do to overcome areas of disagreement?

The Future

· Did they ask about the individuals job satisfaction

· Did they find out what ‘makes the employee tick’

· Did they explore the employees career aspirations?

Support

· What strengths were identified?

· Did they agree on how to further develop these strengths?

· What problems were identified?

· What solutions and options were identified?

· Were they agreed?

· Were any training and development needs identified?

· Were any interventions agreed?

Managing the Discussion

· Did they achieve a balanced 2 way conversation (check your communication chart)

· Did the appraisee do most of the talking

· Did the discussion end positively

· Did they agree the next steps to be taken?

Other

8. Appraisal Form

Hint: You will be required to complete this form to summarise your meeting after the appraisal practical. Does your appraisal planning document cover each area.

Performance & Development Review

NAME

JOB TITLE

1. Review: How well has the manager met the objectives set at their last meeting? Explain why this rating has been given.

Objective

Rating

Explanation/Justification/Evidence

Complete a review of all booking and reservation processes and create an action plan to improve these to achieve a 10% increase in customer booking satisfaction.

Provide evidence of weekly communication and collaborative decision making activities undertaken with the team focused on securing a 5% increase in Q4 and Q7 on the employee engagement survey.

2. Going forward: What objectives have you agreed the manager should achieve by your next meeting?

Objective

Timescale

Success Measures

Learning & Development Activity

Target Date

3. Support: Agree learning and development support required to achieve objectives

4. Career Aspirations: Record discussion about appraisees future career direction

5. Comments

Manager

Employee

6. Assessment (tick which grade applies)

· Excellent

· Good

· Satisfactory

· Unsatisfactory

Review Manager

(name and signature)

Reviewee

(name and signature)

Date

27