A Royal Mess: Critical Analysis and Total Quality Management Approach

Why did things go wrong at the banquet? Critically analyse the case study and identify the systemic operational issues.

Answer the following questions. Each question must be at least 400 words.

 

1. Why did things go wrong at the banquet? Critically analyse the case study and identify the systemic operational issues.?

 

2. Propose how a Total Quality Management approach to Royal hotel’s operations could help prevent such disasters occurring in the future?

3. Discuss how Royal Hotel can engage staff at all levels to improve quality of service at the hotel?

Adapted from a Case Study in Operations Management, Slack, N, et al

 

The previous evening’s banquet for Micro Electronics Ltd had been a complete disaster and Sunny Deol, the Royal Hotel ‘s General Manager, was still recovering from the series of telephone conversations of that morning.

I had hoped that by having our annual sales conference at your renowned hotel in Singapore, we would be treated to an even better level of service than last year, when we were at Kuala Lumpur; but we were to be deeply disappointed. After all the problems you have caused us over the last two days, from faulty video projection to shortages of cups at coffee breaks, I had hoped that at least the final conference dinner would run smoothly, but you let us down badly. The cocktail reception was a farce: the choice of non-alcoholic drinks that we specially ordered didn’t appear until the last minute, and as the president’s wife is teetotal, you can imagine the embarrassment that caused!

 

A spilt tray of snacks was not cleared up quickly and several guests got food all over their shoes and dresses. And why did the reception drag on for so long? ‘When we were finally asked into the dining room, it clearly wasn’t properly prepared. Some of the tables (including ours) were without flowers, which upset my wife, who had been involved with the selection of arrangements. Even the flowers that were there were the wrong variety and looked as if they had been on the tables since yesterday. ‘The meal was the worst I have ever seen! I never expect banquet food to be as good as à la carte, but this was awful! The starter was dried up and chewy and the sweet soufflés were flat and rubbery. And we couldn’t believe that anyone could mess up a simple entrée. We were served the cutlets and potatoes, but the sauce and vegetables didn’t appear until I’d nearly finished mine. ‘And what happened to the microphones on the top table?

Propose how a Total Quality Management approach to Royal hotel’s operations could help prevent such disasters occurring in the future?

 

The photographer didn’t turn up either, which is perhaps a blessing as the tables weren’t cleared completely after the sweet and I’m sure that everyone would have looked in a bad mood after all the mess-up! I can tell you straight – we won’t be paying all your exorbitant charges for this banquet and I expect a written apology for all the upset we have been caused. The president must think I am an idiot to have chosen this hotel, and I think he has a point.

I was told that the public address system had to be set up by We often do jobs of this type and two hours is more than enough, so we allowed an extra half-hour and started at 4.30 pm. Your staff wouldn’t let us get to the tables to wire them and we had to wait until they cleared them off for us.

It has always been agreed that we must wait until the cutlery has been laid before we set out the flowers and yesterday we simply weren’t given enough time to see to all the tables. Asfor the types of flowers, we were never told that the client wanted red and pink arrangements. I would have recommended other colours anyway, as reds would not look good against the dining room decor. Unfortunately, the electricians moved our arrangements out of the way against a heating outlet, so by the time we got to them, the flowers looked a bit beyond their best condition. I suppose that’s what happens if you allow contractors to interfere with our operation.

 

We were never told that the client wanted to use the video equipment, which was scheduled for repairs next weekend. Had I known, we could have hired in another projector, but we never got the conference checklist back from the client. If we had got that, it would also have indicated that there were an extra ten delegates here just for the morning to make some sort of presentation to the conference. These problems are all down to the client: if they don’t follow our system, it’s their fault if things go wrong

I always get a detailed schedule from the head waiter. I get the fish, the sauces, the vegetables and the desserts ready according to that schedule  if things run as late as they did last night, you can expect a few problems. Cooking is an art. All the chefs know how to cook to perfection every time, but if we can’t serve the food when it’s ready, it will be messed up. I can tell you that if you think the customer was angry, you should have come into the kitchen. Some of the conference delegates were rude to the waiters, who came back into the kitchen and told the chefs. All the staff were really upset and Jonathan, our sauce chef, refused to start on the cutlet sauce until the fish course was cleared.’

From the Head Waiter:

We weren’t told that the electricians would have to wire the tables. They worked setting up the loudspeakers and amplifiers while we were setting the tablecloths and laying the place settings. Their foreman then told us that the tables would have to be cleared for them, so you can imagine the problems that caused. I think we did very well to put everything right in under half an hour. Finally, with the photographer

We were booked for 10.00 pm and the Conference Manager told us that, according to the customer, we would only be needed for half an hour during the speeches. When we arrived they were still in the middle of the meal and so I waited a bit, but we had another booking at the Concert Hall at the end of a performance at 11.00 pm, so I had to rush off. If we’d known earlier I could have arranged for a partner to come along.