Organizational Change and Development for Tourism - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theOrganizational Change and Development for Tourism. Answer: Introduction Organizational Change and Development Organisational change and development is the study of introducing changes and interventions in the workplace in order to improve work processes and operations. By introducing changes in the workplace, the subject aims at enhancing workplace performance to achieve a higher competitive position in the market (Martins Zedeck, 2011). The evolution of global market and globalisation has made the business world highly complex and competitive. Business organisations are now operating competing with each other on a global scale. Business organisations have become vulnerable to multiple internal and external environment factors that can change within real time. As a result, business organisations are facing a critical market situation and are required to undergo changes to cope up with the changing market factors and competitors. Company Background The Last Resort is a 4-5-star integrated hospitality and tourism resort that is located in regional Tasmania. The hotel was initially a wildlife part and slowly made progress from its initial stage and now offer luxury accommodation and a range of tourist activities to its guests, such as walking tours, game fishing and a golf course. The Hotel has around 25 5 star rooms, 15 4 start chalet styled units and 80 4 star units. The amenities included in the hotel premises are conference halls, 3 restaurants, bars, gyms, pool, spa, golf shop, small marina and wild life tours. The hotel experienced a diverse range of guests who stay in the hotel for different purposes. The hotel is becoming highly popular amongst the residents of North-Asia and India and the management is also planning to become a premier tourist destination within the next 5-7 years. The hotel has also been experiencing certain issues related with the management of its human resources and the responsibility that it has towards the stakeholders. The Hotel has recently received some negative views on one of the leading travel websites and has been criticised for its recruitment processes. The hotel is also facing a steep decline in the number of customers who make a return visit and even the location is losing its credibility as a tourist attraction. To improve the services of the hotel, the management is also deciding to construct a helipad and a landing strip, which is also being opposed by the authorities. Further, the Hotel is also experiencing some internal issues as the employee turnover ratio is increasing the the level of cooperation between departments is reducing. There ar e a number of opportunities coming up in the near future for the hotel and the general manager of the hotel is eager to start expanding the hotel business. As a result, the general manager of the hotel has asked the human resource manager to design an action plan that will help in implementing changes in the workplace. Threats, Opportunities and Change Management Models There are a number of threats and opportunities that the hotel is facing as of now. If the hotel management is able to make use of those opportunities and deal with the threats, it is highly possible that the hotel will achieve its objective of becoming a premier tourist destination. The issues and opportunities that the hotel is facing and can make use of them by implementing a change program are discussed below; Opportunities: First of all, there is a great opportunity for the hotel to establish itself as a honeymoon destination and attract tourists from North-Asia and India. Secondly, the hotel has become a major destination for hosting wedding events for the localities and the management can develop on this opportunity to increase its competencies. Threats: To some extent, the threats to The Last Resort are far greater than the opportunities. Firstly, there are new market entrants who are offering new and unique services, which is grabbing the market share of The Last Resort. Secondly, the Hotel is facing a major challenge in training and developing its staff so that they could provide exceptional services to the guests. Thirdly, the hotel has received some negative reviews on one of the leading trip advisor websites. Fourthly, the hotel is facing a legal issue as it is not offering employment to the localities and is rather hiring employees from outside the city. Lastly, the workplace environment of the Hotel is suffering too. The turnover rates are increasing and the competition between departments is decreasing. There is unrest in the workplace because of rumours. From the above information, it is clear that the hotel management needs to quickly create an urgency and introduce changes because the threats to its business are more than the opportunities. A major area where the management needs to introduce change is the management of its human resources. The management needs to start designing and implementing training and development programs, along with a performance management system to minimise the impact of threats and to increase the chances of opportunities. To implement this change, the management of the hotel can choose between two highly decorated change management models i.e. Kurt Lewins 3-stage model of change or Kotters change management theory (Anastasia, 2015). Change Strategy The change models identified above are two of the most widely used change management programs throughout the world and have great reliability and validity. A justification of the change management models chosen for this particular case is given below: Kurt Lewins Change model Kurt Lewin, one of the pioneers of the subject, proposed a very efficient theory of implementing change in an organisation. In Kurt Lewins theory, there are three different stages i.e. unfreeze, change and refreeze. As the issues that the Last Resort is facing are merely related with the management of the human resources, the model proposed by Kurt Lewin will help in addressing all the issues in the best possible way. In the first stage or in the unfreeze stage, the management of the hotel will be able to establish an urgency in the workplace and communicate with the employees that a change in the operations or some practices is required. In the initial stage, there will always be greater unrest and confusion. The management can share important information with the employees that will help in clearing their doubts, such as reasons for change, benefits of change, drivers of change, change objectives, etc. Using this model, it will become easier for the management to communicate with the employees and involve them in the change program right from the beginning (Cummings Worley, 2014). Once the management feels that it has established an effective communication channel, it can then move on to the second stage or the unfreeze stage. By dealing with most of the initial resistance in the first stage, proceeding to the second stage will act as a planned approach as the employees will then be ready to accept changes. In this stage, the management will be able to foster changes by making a transition from old work practices to new work practices (Morrison, 2014). In the last stage or the refreeze stage, the management will be able to foster positive behaviour amongst the employees who have accepted the change by recognizing and rewarding them. Recognizing and awarding the employees who have accepted the change will help in motivating them as well as the others and it would become easier to implement the change (SMITH, 2013). The model proposed by Kurt Lewin is one of the simplest model for management of a change program and can greatly increase the chances of success. It will help the hotel management in dealing with resistance that the employees might offer and preparing them for future changes too (Hussain, et al., 2016). Kotters change management theory Kotters change management theory is another popular and widely used change management theory throughout the world. The developer of the theory, John P. Kotter, was a professor at the Harvard Business School and proposed eight stages in his theory that can be used to manage a change program (Burnes Cooke, 2012). The eight stages in his theory are listed below: Increase urgency Build a guiding team Form a strategic vision Communicate Deal with the barriers Focus on short term goals Sustain acceleration Incorporate change (Kotter International, n.d.) Many experts believe that the two models i.e. the model given by Kotter and the model given by Kurt Lewin, are similar to each other to a certain extent. Kotter divided his change management plan whereas Kurt Lewin proposed three stages for managing change. The model proposed by Kotter is yet another model that will greatly help the hotel management in implementing the changes that it wants. Using this model, it will become easier for the Hotel to prepare the workforce for a change and to engage them in the change management plan. Further, the hotel management will also be able to create teams and change agents to increase the chances of success and to propagate the change effectively (Velopi, 2015). The model also focuses on the important of celebrating short term achievements which can greatly help in motivating the employees (Riche, n.d.). Barriers to Change Management A change management plan can be a night mare for any business organisation, no matter how competent its human resource managers are. Change management plans often fail because of a number of issues but one of the greatest issues resulting in the failure is the resistance to change offered by the employees due to multiple reasons. Even in the case of the Last Resort, the chances of resistance to change management are high and there can be certain barriers to change management too. First of all, the ability of the human resource management of the hotel to design efficient human resource management functions is one of the biggest barriers to the change program. It is important for the management to design human resource practices, such as a new performance management system, training and development programs and recruitment and selection programs in such a way that they can foster a positivity in the workplace. A failure of the management to design efficient human resource management practice can act as a barrier to the change management program. Secondly, a failure of the management to involve the employees in the change management program will act as another barrier to the change management program. It is important for the management to engage the employees using various strategies so that they can also make some contributions in the change management program and can help in strengthening the change ideas. In case the management fails to involve them, they will feel left out and will create panic in the mind of the others too. The feeling of being left out and panic will grow into resistance and will act as a barrier to the change management program (Smith, 2015). Thirdly, improper communication will also act as a barrier to the change management program. Establishing a strong communication channel and keeping the employees informed about the details of the change program helps in building trust and preventing the employees from becoming insecure. If the communication is not proper, the employees can start to feel insecure and there can be origination of rumours in the workplace, which will ultimately lead to resistance and will act as a solid barrier to the change management program. Lastly, the organisation also needs to ensure that it does not ends up complicating the change management program. As such, the workforce is not prepared for a change and the organisation should take its time to prepare the workforce. The management should introduce workplace changes in a systematic manner rather than introducing all of them at once. In case all the change programs are implemented at once, the management might end up complicating the situation and the complexity of the change management program will act as a barrier to the change management program (Mar, 2013). Ethical Issues in Strategic Change Implementation The external and internal factors that are forcing the business organisations in introducing changes to such an extent that the management of business organisations can sometimes forget the ethical role and the corporate social responsibility that they have to play towards the stakeholders. There are certain ethical issues that can emerge during the implementation of a change program. These issues are discussed below: First of all, it is important for the management to fulfil an ethical obligation towards the employees while designing and implementing a change program. As a business, it is important for the management to ensure job security and economic well-being for the employees while planning and implementing change programs so that their personal lives are not affected by the change (Lewis, n.d.). The Hotel will have to ensure that it provides adequate employment opportunities to the localities as its an important part of its corporate social responsibility and also deal with the redundant workforce in the best possible manner. Secondly, another major ethical issue that the hotel management might have to encounter while planning and implementing its change program is its decision related with the construction of a helipad and an airstrip. Airstrip and helipad will require a lot of land to be deforested as the hotel is setup in a wildlife area. Clearing forest land will be one of the most unethical decisions from a business point of view and will not just harm the reputation of the Hotel but can also get the hotel into legal troubles. Conclusion The increasing competition in the market and the inefficiencies in the internal operations and management practices of the hotel is posing a great threat to its market position. The hotel might not be able to continue on its path of success and achieve its objective of becoming a premier tourist destination if the situation is not carefully dealt with. As a result, the management of the hotel should start designing a change management program using one of the change management model discussed above. To increase the chances of success of the change management program, the management should try to deal with the root causes of barriers to the change implementation and should also make sure that it acts ethically while designing and implementing its change program. 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