Change Management In Hospitality And Tourism Industry In Thailand: An Essay.

Importance of Change Management in Business

Question :

What is the Organisational Change Management and Leadership ?

Rapid changes in the business environment in terms of technology and socio-cultural factors forces companies to implement desired changes in the current processes and systems. It is an structured approach that brings transitions in a team, individual and organization to a desired state from the current state. It is an important aspect of the business as it facilitates in reducing the resistance to change among the employees. People tend to resist change in the organization due to which leaders influence their behavior towards change by adopting and implement desired change in the organization (Anderson and Anderson, 2010).  Besides this, implementation of the change in the organization help employees to take full participation in the decision making process in the form of their opinions, thoughts and knowledge. This results in increasing the level of commitment among the employees which in turn results in improving their performance. Introduction and execution of the change in the organization in a successful manner helps in enhancing the productivity of the organization and reducing the overall cost of the company (Graetz, et al., 2012).

In addition to this, it also helps in bringing innovation in the organization so as to meet the changes occurred in the business environment. Effective implementation of the changes occurred in the organization helps in gaining competitive advantage over the rivals present in the market. This is because introduction of the change in the organization help employees to deal with the customer objections in an effective way which facilitates in increasing the customer base and profits of the business. In addition to this, there is also an improvement in the quality and production capacity of the organization due to implementation of the changes made in manufacturing processes and technology (Hussey, 2000).  

This report mainly emphasizes on the changes occurred in the hospitality and tourism industry in Thailand which are aligned to leadership style followed by it. The hotel in a Thailand is located near prime dive sites due to which people can reach there in 30 minutes through a boat ride.  The prime sites is located 40 points far away from the hotel. The hotel only captures 12% of divers due to the fact that it caters services to big groups like families and group travelers. There is a need to bring changes in different processes and procedures of the hotel due to the reason to overcome the threat from new entrants in the region. 3 new hotels are entering the market with more than 900 beds and located within a kilometer from the hotel (Dawson, 2003).

The hotel has to bring changes in different business operations for the purpose to keep a pace with a business environment. It is requisite for the organization to bring changes as three new hotels are established near the hotel which creates competition in terms of price for the hotel. The hotels in Thahiti provide accommodation at low cost. Besides this, hotels in Maldives are offering underwater view to the customers which is a unique feature of the hotels. This attracts potential customers and tourists in the hotel. This has become a big competition for the hotel. The hotel needs to provide training to its employees to deal with the customers in an effective manner which in turn helps in increasing the level of satisfaction of the customers. Besides this, it is also necessary for the hotel to provide high quality products to its customers which is manufactured with hygiene (Cameron and Green, 2015).

Changes in Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Thailand

The provision of tasty food and good ambience of the hotel helps in attracting large number of customers. Besides this, provision of tasty and fresh food items at reasonable price helps in reducing the price competition in the market. Nowadays, hotels provide a facility to its customers to make their order by the use of internet (Anderson and Anderson, 2010). Hotel provides a free home delivery facility to its customers so that they receive the products at their door steps by making an order through the use of online mode or through telephone. In addition to this, the three hotels which has become the prime competitors of the hotel has a large customer base in comparison to the hotel. In order to increase the customer base of the hotel, there might be a possibility to implement different promotional techniques such as advertisement on banners near airport, provision of accommodation on reasonable rates and provision of discounts if customers make advance booking by an online mode (Zumitzavan and Michie, 2015).

Along with this, the hotel also needs to provide pick and drop facility to its customers At reasonable price from and to the airport. This also helps in attracting new and potential customers. Besides this, the other changes that needs to be made include provision of different reasonable tour packages to tourists also helps in increasing the overall productivity and profitability of the organization. Besides this, in order to implement the aforementioned changes, it is required for the hotel to adopt transformational leadership style in the organization. Transformational leadership style facilitates in providing opportunity to employees to take part in the decision making process (Kotter, 2013).

It can help in bringing changes as it helps in gaining knowledge regarding the customer buying behavior by tracking changes in the tastes and preferences of the customers. Transformational leadership style facilitates leaders to bring the needed change in the organization by working together with their subordinates. In context to the hotel, the manager needs to gain the information regarding the change to be implemented in the organization by receiving feedbacks from the customers online regarding the services and products offered by the hotel. Besides this, waiters and other staff of the organization also provides information related to the changes occurred in the preferences of the customer which help leaders of the organization to take effective decisions related to the strategies to be implemented in the organization (Bertocci, 2009).  

The implementation of the potential changes in the organization facilitates in increasing the engagement of the employees in the business operations. This results in increasing their productivity and performance in the organization. The vision of the change management is to increase the customer base of the organization. There is a positive impact of the change management on the productivity and performance of the whole organization. The hotel has added new features in its website which has helped in attracting more number of customers. Customers can provide feedback and attain information regarding different tourist destinations or places that are considered to be visited in Thailand along with their distances from the hotel. In addition to this, it also provides a facility to its customers to take a taxi on rent from the hotel to visit the tourist places in the country (Baker, 2007).

Areas of Improvement for the Hotel

Adoption of transformational leadership by the managers of the hotel has helped in creating a cohesive environment in the organization which in turn facilitates in increasing the productivity and performance of the employees of the organization. Besides this, execution of the transformational leadership has also facilitated in the provision of the pick and drop facility from the airport in a reasonable prices for which customers are ready to pay premium prices. This is because, it results in save of time of the tourists. Besides this, the company has also established an electronic communication network that helps employees and customers to interact with each other in order to make effective decisions. Access to an important information through the use of internet and telephone within the organization help employees to discuss their problems so as to take decisions in an effective manner to handle customer objections and achieve high level of customer satisfaction (Lippke, 2013).

It leads to increase in the number of customer base as customers are persuaded to get services provided by the hotel by viewing the reviews of the existing customers on the internet regarding their experiences with the hotel. Transformational leadership as the name suggests refers to the leadership style which is concerned with the bringing transformation in the processes and procedures of the organization to meet the changes occurred in the business environment. This helps the hotel to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. The company has also provided a facility to its customers of planning a tour for tourists so that they can easily visit different tourists places in a cost effective manner. Besides this, organization also provides training to its employees in order to upgrade their skills and abilities for the purpose increasing their performance and productivity (Aitken and Higgs, 2010).  

Before change is implemented in the organization, hotel provides accommodation facilities to its customers at reasonable prices. It has 1117 keys and provide dive sight scene view from the rooms of the hotel which is the good sign of attracting customers. But it does not have large volume of customers. Besides this, there is a presence of autocratic leadership style followed by the people at managerial level in the organization. Autocratic leadership style has a characteristic that it involve central decision making system in which the decisions have been made by the leader by not involving employees and other stakeholders in the decision making. This might results in the inadequate implementation of the changes brought by the leader as people has the tendency to resist change. Therefore, in order to implement change in an effective manner, transformational leadership style is adopted by the management of the hotel as it helps in bringing change in the organization in an intended manner (Mattiske, 2012).

Leaders involve workers and employees of the organization in the decision making process which facilitates in convincing the employees that their productivity and performance is improved which results in increasing the sales and profits of the business. Transformational leadership helps in increasing the capture rate from 12% (Beer and Nohria, 2000). This is because, employees have gained a sense of belongingness with the organization and highly motivated to increase their performance by providing superior quality of products and services to its customers at low price and maximum utilization of the available resources. Implementation of the digital communication network helps in providing access of the relevant information to employees so that they can make effective decisions in less time for the purpose of achieving high level of customer satisfaction (By and Burnes, 2012).

The Need for Transformational Leadership in the Organization

In addition to this, through a communication network, customers can also include their queries online from their convenient place to which solutions are provided by the employees. In addition to this, customer feedback and their queries helps in bringing adequate changes in their policies and procedures for the purpose of remain competitive in the market. Besides this, provision of transportation from and to the airport is also done by slow and fast boats which help customers to reach at the hotel location in less time (Smillie and Hailey, 2001). A GPS system is fitted in the boats that are used to pick and drop from and to the airport. This enables in capturing the information related to the current location of the boat and can easily be communicated with the driver. This also reduces the cost of transportation incurred by the hotel as if there is more number of customers to pick and drop from the airport the driver can collect them and drop them at the hotel (Boonstra, 2012). In order to implement the change in the information and communication technology, the system developers asks the users of the system regarding different features needed and their needs for the purpose of effective implementation of the system to gain enhanced productivity and performance. This also results in the elimination of the human errors due to the use of automated system in place of manual systems (Bendell, 2016).

By the use of automated systems, records can easily be stored and access at any point of time for the purpose of taking decisions in a quick manner. This also results in organizational learning as it results in the development of new skills and upgrading the existing skills for the purpose of carrying out different business operations in an effective manner. If there is an existence of the gap between the expected outcome of the change and actual outcome from the change brought in the organization then corrective actions will be taken by the management in order to improve the performance and productivity of the whole organization (Cummings and Worley, 2014).

After the implementation of the new technology in the form of a communication platform in the organization employees can easily share their views, opinions and thoughts with other employees in order to take effective decisions which in turn helps in the increase in the productivity and performance of employees. This also helps in overcoming the competition from the new players in the market (Paton and McCalman, 2008). Provision of the transportation to clients from and to the airport facilitates in spreading awareness regarding the hotel among potential customers which results in an increase in the volume of the customers of the organization. Transformational leaders act as the change agents that provide appropriate information related to the changes that has to be introduced in the organization before bringing change in the organization. People tend to resist change as they are not familiar with the outcomes and the way in which the activities have to be performed by the use of the new technology to be introduced in the organization (Suchy, 2004).

Positive Impact of Change Management on Productivity and Performance

Transformational leadership style is developed in the organization by restructuring the organization. It is requisite to recruit new employees in the organization with the required new skill set. This helps in enhancing the skills of the existing employees by the way of establishment of the common communication platform which enables organizational learning. Autocratic leadership style results in delay of the tasks to be performed by the employees due to non- presence of the proper communication network in the organization. This type of leadership style involves centralized decision making (Hayes, 2014). Besides this, in this type of leadership, employees do not have a direct interaction with the highest level of organization i.e. board of directors. This is the reason, that change in the leadership style is brought in the organization so that the changes in the processes and procedures have been brought by the leaders in order to cope up with the changes occurred in the business environment. Besides this, the company also plans to target customers other than the professional divers (Alkhafaji, 2001).

The hotel focuses on the customers who are keen to do diving. This is the feature of the hotel that differentiates it from other hotels in the nearby locations. The hotel might adopt differentiation strategy for the purpose of achieving competitive advantage over other players in the market. The hotel is situated near beach due to which customers will be ready to pay premium prices for different activities and facilities especially for diving (Ahmad, Gilkar and Darzi, 2008). This is because Thailand is famous for different water sport due to which providing facilities to international tourists to enjoy different water sports will aid in increasing its revenue. This results in increasing the goodwill of the hotel in the market. Along with this, the hotel also has to adopt cost leadership strategy for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage over the three hotels that are situated within a kilometer from the hotel. The hotel can provide services to its customers at low cost by replacing manual working to automated systems (Sims, 2006).

The hotel has introduced and established intranet through which the information related to customers can be stored in a computer which takes less time in comparison to keeping records of the personal information manually. This has also helped in eliminating the cost incurred in the stationary products such as paper and files. This has also helped in save of time and cost. In addition to this, it also results in increasing the speed of people to make an entry in computer regarding the information related to customers. Use of automated systems has also results in the reducing the number of employees needed to perform the tasks (Ovadje, 2014).

It results in reducing the labor cost. In addition to this, installation of the telephones in each room also helps customers to make their order at the reception, so that the people at the desk can make a record in their system which is communicated in the kitchen in an electronic form. This reduces the processing time and waiting time of customers. This also helps in reducing the cost of processing. This also helps in improving the quality of services to be delivered to the customer. Autocratic leadership style does not provide adequate information related to the policies and procedures to be followed in the organization. This has a negative impact on the performance of the employees (Hiatt and Creasey, 2003).

Strategies for Attracting More Customers

Besides this, this also put hurdles in providing information to solve the problems faced by employees. In addition to this, transformational leadership provide opportunity to employees to interact with top level management to solve their problems in an effective manner. This has also helped in increasing their level of commitment of employees in the organization. Employees feel a sense of belongingness with the organization. In addition to this, establishment of a new system that hewlps in providing instant information to employees at different levels helps them to make a decision related to the standard of the quality maintained in the services provided to customers. This help employees to maintain the quality of the services rendered as per the set standard. This has also helped in increasing good experiences of the customers through the services provided to them (Hughes and Wearing, 2016).   

Stakeholders are the entities which have some interest in the business operations of the organization. The key stakeholders of the organization include employees, managers, financial institutions and customers. There is a significant impact of the change initiatives and strategies on the stakeholders of the organization. In the beginning people tend to resist change to be brought in the organization. This is because, they are familiar with the tasks to be carried out in a routine manner, although, training has been provided to the existing staff regarding the skills that are required to perform the task by the use of new technology or system to be incorporated in the business (Babaita, Sipos, Ispas and Nagy, n.d).

The adoption of the transformational leadership in place of autocratic leadership helps in providing information related to different business operations which helps in bringing transparency in the information provided to the stakeholders. Transparency in the business operations helps in attracting investors to make investment in the business for the purpose of its expansion. This in turn also helps in widening of the target market for the hotel. The hotel not only provides accommodation and transportation facilities but also provide fresh and high quality of food to its customers. Customers are given the priority by the business as it has a direct impact on the sales and profits of the business. Besides this, transformational leadership helps in increasing the engagement and level of commitment of the employees in the organization as itr results in the delegation of authority and responsibility at lower levels in the organization which helps in provision of high quality of services to customers. This is because, the decisions can be taken in prompt manner by the employees (Ogbonna and Harris, 2000).

 Conclusion

It can be concluded that nowadays, it is essential for the business to make changes in the processes and procedures as per the changes taking place in the business environment in order to sustain in the market. Entry of new firms in the hotel industry results in increasing the completion in the industry for existing hotels. A small hotel in Thailand has bought changes in their processes and procedures along with the leadership style which helps it to attain an advantage over its competitors. It can also be concluded the hotel has adopted transformational leadership style as it facilitates in delegation of the authority and responsibility at lower levels in the organization. Along with this, transformational leadership also helps in providing a sense of belongingness among the employees as it provide opportunity to employees to take part in the decision making process. This leads to an increase in the engagement and level of commitment of the employees towards the organization. This results in the attainment of the common goals and objectives of the hotel. This helps employees to take quick decisions to provide high quality services and products to its customers. This has resulted in an increase in the customer satisfaction.

Feedback and Information Gathering

In addition to this, there is also a change taken place in the communication platform in the form of intranet which help employees to discuss their problems and issues with other employees in a quick manner which aids in enhancing the skills of the employees. Besides this, it also leads to organizational learning in the organization. Besides this, other change have been brought is the installation of the telephone in the rooms so that customers can make order at the reception which transfers information in the kitchen which results in quick delivery of the service to a specified room. It can also be summarized that it results in reducing the labor cost as installation of the automated system has reduced the requirement of the manpower in the organization. Along with this, it also provides opportunity to customers other than the customers living in the hotel to make online booking and make order of the food products online so that the products have been delivered at the doorsteps of the customers without charging money for the delivery. 

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