Research Korner: Management Essays

Management of Change

INTRODUCTION           Ideally, change involves movement away from present state towards future state and or response to such significant opportunity arising within the organization (Cited from, Gilgeous, 1997) as business environment can be fast changing and with impending move to the globalization of markets, organizations have to cope with changes in business dynamics. Furthermore, changes in organization take place in response to business and economic events and to processes of managerial perception and actions where managers see events taking place that indicated the need for change (Cited from, Pettigrew, 1985). Moreover, organizations found change to be real challenge. The change process is unique in each situation, due to the differences in nature of the organization, the nature of business, the work culture and values, management and leadership style and the behavior attitude of employees. Change is truly part of life. Change has been intrigued, scared as well as excited and mystified us for many centuries and continues to challenge individuals from all walks of life. In recent years within a business context, however, the term “change” has also become synonymous with upheaval and chaos (Cited from, Pritchett, 1996). As a consequence, it has become critical for companies to understand how to better manage and cope with change.   DISCUSSION The Impact of Organizational Change in Culture and Leadership           Amiably, Cao et al. (Cited from, 2000), believed that organizational change showed diversity of the organization in its environment, and also the interaction of the technical and human activities that had interrelated dimensions in the organization. Organizations should be interested in preventing dysfunctional workplace behavior, such as for instance violence, because such behaviors can be very costly or damaging to the organization. Indeed, organization can contribute to displays of dysfunctional behavior in one of two ways, by “creating social conditions that promote violence by generating aggressive inclinations” or by “lowering restraints against violent actions” (Cited from, Berkowitz, 1993, p. 281). Even when the individual predisposition is high, the actual display of dysfunctional behavior is “most likely to occur when cognitively based inhibitory restraints are minimal” (Cited from, Berkowitz, 1993; Carlson et al., 1990, p. 622). The organization can become an important contributing factor to whether or not violent displays of behavior are expressed by the individual, especially when, for example, the threat of punishment from the organization is minimal or absent (Cited from, Berkowitz, 1993).             Accordingly Schein explain that, “culture is accumulated shared learning of given group, covering behavioral, emotional, and cognitive elements of the group members’ total psychological functioning. For shared learning to occur, there must be history of shared experience, which in turn implies some stability of membership in the group. Given such stability and shared history, the human need for parsimony, consistency, and meaning will cause the various shared elements to form into patterns that eventually can be called a culture” (Cited from, Schein, 1992, p. 10).  The role of culture in situation of change is to confirm or deny the legitimacy of the new arrangements as there relates to changes of personnel or differences between specialisms. Thus, Morieux and Sutherland described how the cultural values and methods of operation of new managers or managers in particular specialisms can clash with the existing culture in organizations. This can lead to conflict, the challenging of existing norms and certainties and the undermining of the authority of managers.           However, culture is not static as Burnes argues that new circumstance, the entry into and exit from the organization of groups and individuals, contribute in complex and unpredictable manner to the evolution of culture. Such changes are inevitable but they can lead to conflict between the old and the new and between groups and individuals who have to adjust to them. If change is too fast rather than sustaining the organization, it will lead to disintegration of the common goals and ways of working which have previously existed. Consequently, it is necessary to recognize that organizational changes which challenge or undermine the cultural status quo can, if managed badly, have severe repercussions. It has been argued that one of the key methods of avoiding this is to involve those affected in assessing the need for, and implementing, change.           Generally, culture and leadership in such change from with organization impose such influences on individual as well as group attitude and behavior such as those involved in diverse workplace and tough business environment (Cited from, Lok and Crawford, 2004). An organization's culture is shaped by its leaders, but it also shapes the behavior of its leaders (Cited from, Brown and Thornborrow, 1996). Characteristics of organizations have been shown to influence the ethics or integrity of executives (Cited from, Tourigny et al., 2003), and qualities of leaders have been shown to be critical in the development of an organization's culture (Cited from, Ribière and Sitar, 2003). Dysfunctional organizations generally fail to achieve their goals and frequently are notable for poor leaders. Dysfunctions in top management have been shown to prohibit groups from effectively accomplishing their tasks (Cited from, Paul et al., 2002). Kets de Vries (Cited from, 2004) suggests that an organization can become dysfunctional because its culture reflects the dysfunctions of top managers (Cited from, Kersten, 2005). According to Ahmed (Cited from, 1998), innovation is the engine of change and the possession of positive cultural characteristics provides the organization with necessary ingredients to innovate. Culture could enhance or inhibit the tendency to innovate. Pool (Cited from, 2000) then, suggested that organizational culture allowed an organization to address ever-changing problems of adaptation to the external environment and the internal integration of organization resources, personnel and policies to support external adaptation.           In addition, change oriented models of leadership have sustained the interest of managers and scholars alike because of their promise of extraordinary individual and organizational outcomes (Cited from, House, 1995). The importance of leadership to the change management process is underscored by the fact that change, by definition, requires creating a new system and then institutionalizing the new approaches (Cited from, Kotter, 1995). For example, there can be such dispositional model of strategic leadership in organizational change is informed by the literature on regulatory focus theory (Cited from, Brockner and Higgins, 2001; Higgins, 1997, 1998, 2000; Taylor-Bianco et al., 2004) and regulatory fit (Cited from, Higgins, 2000; Taylor-Bianco et al., 2003). The model suggests that strategic leadership of organizational change manages the paradox of change and stability by embracing positive self-regulation: the process by which individuals formulates goals that are congruent with their individual preferences, and the styles and strategies they use to attain them over time. When organizational members experience compatible fit through positive self-regulation in the change environment, they become fully motivated to support the change goals. The strategic leadership responsibility include positive self-regulated change behavior and the creation of an internal environment that supports eagerness and vigilance in positive self-regulated change behavior (Cited from, Higgins et al., 2003).           However, the discussion of strategic leadership of organizational change brings to center stage the need for leaders to develop an awareness of their self-regulation orientation and strategies. As noted by Burke (Cited from, 2002, p. 294), there is much still to learn about organizational change in respect to the “behavioral complexities that leaders face, interpersonal, informational and decisional,” and the relationship of leaders and followers in the change process. One risk in neglecting this complexity is failure to recognize and adequately deal with pro-innovation bias (Cited from, Sturdy and Grey, 2003).               The impact of change in leadership builds on the experiences inside every company involved in change that are often overlooked and underutilized. It is aimed at quickly growing the internal talent needed to achieve breakthrough results, then replicate and sustain them. The basic philosophy of change leadership is that people learn best by doing from real life experiences. This process of discovering successful behaviors is key to the concept. Positive deviance does not focus on the solution but on the process to discover the solution that already exists in some parts of the community. Although most often the company is not aware of this, there are certain things that work in their unique environment, and others that do not. The organization has gathered experience with which to manage change. The change leadership approach is designed to look at the specific way an organization deals with change and to leverage this experience. The objective can be to fuel an epidemic of projects that apply lessons learned and avoid pitfalls encountered in other projects by reflecting the existing organizational knowledge about how to manage change in unique environment.           The modern business environment requires skilled and experienced people who can implement change in variety of functional settings. Then, the employees chosen to participate in change leadership effort are trained to understand successful behaviors and transfer them into organizational reality for everybody in the company because change leadership does not focus on the one single answer but on learning a process that helps to discover the model that has been proven to work in practice, the process can be applied everywhere.           Where certain opportunity arises which requires change, they may have much to contribute in terms of defining whether change really is required and, if so, what form it should take. The need to draw on staff knowledge is relatively straightforward and can, in many instances, be accomplished by consultation and communication. However, if certain knowledge is to be forthcoming, it does require staff to have a positive attitude towards any proposed change. This leads on to the second main reason for involving staff in change projects: to gain their commitment. If an organization embarks on change project which is markedly out of step with the attitudes of those concerned, it will meet resistance unless those concerned change their attitudes; and this is only likely to occur if they believe that they have some choice in the matter. Thus, where the level of dissonance occasioned by proposed changes is low, attitudinal adjustments will be minor and potential resistance negligible and so, the level and type of involvement should be geared to the level of dissonance that any proposed changes may give rise to improvement in organization activities and other functions. CONCLUSION           In conclusion, managing the human part of the organization becomes major challenge in handling change processes in the organization as it involves values, preferences, and attitudes toward a particular activity. Attitudes can be difficult to change as people are generally more comfortable with what they have learned or knew due to stereotyping, fear of taking risks, intolerance to ambiguity, and possibly the need to maintain tradition. Nonetheless, for any change to be effective, it is crucial to challenge and clarify people's beliefs, assumption and attitudes because the most potent leverage for significant and sustainable change resides within the human system at the core of every business system. Therefore, it is expected that certain types of culture might facilitate the change process while other types of culture might not. One major issue confronting organizations is to determine which type of organizational culture favors organizational change. This can be a challenging task for top managers, as the managers have to decide how to implement changes in their organization. Some have argued that the process has to start at the top while others have suggested that it should also start with the bottom-up approach. As such it appears that there may be relationship between organizational culture and attitudes toward organizational change.   REFERENCE Ahmed, P.K. (1998), "Culture and climate for innovation", European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 1 No.1, pp.30-43   Berkowitz, L. (1993), Aggression: Its Causes, Consequences, and Control, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA   Brennan, W. (1998), "Aggression and violence: examining the theories", Nursing Standard, Vol. 12 pp.36-8.   Brown, A.D., Thornborrow, W.T. (1996), "Do organizations get the followers they deserve?", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 17 No.1, pp.5-11.   Burke, W.W. (2002), Organization Change: Theory and Practice, Jossey-Bass, Thousand Oaks, CA   Burnes, B. (1992), Managing Change, Pitman, London   Cao, G., Clarke, S., Lehaney, B. (2000), "A systematic view of organizational change and TQM", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 12 No.3, pp.186-93   Carlson, M., Marcus-Newhall, A., Miller, N. (1990), "Effects of situational aggression cues: a quantitative review", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 58 pp.622-33.   Förster, J., Higgins, E.T., Taylor-Bianco, A. (2003), "Speed/accuracy decisions in task performance: built-in-trade-off or separate strategic concerns?", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 90 pp.148-64   Förster, J., Higgins, E.T., Idson, L.C. (1998), "Approach and avoidance strength during goal attainment: regulatory focus and the ‘goal looms larger’ effect", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 75 pp.1115-31   Gilgeous, V. (1997), Operations and the Management of Change, Pitman Publishing, London   Higgins, E.T. (1997), "Beyond pleasure and pain", American Psychologist, Vol. 52 pp.1280-300   Higgins, E.T. (1998), "Promotion and prevention: regulatory focus as a motivational principle", in Zanna, M.P. (Eds),Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press, New York, NY, pp.1-46   Higgins, E.T. (2000), "Making a good decision: value from fit", American Psychologist, Vol. 55 pp.1217-30.   Higgins, E.T., Friedman, R.S., Harlow, R.E., Idson, L.C., Ayduk, O.N., Taylor-Bianco, A. (2001), "Achievement orientations from subjective histories of success: promotion pride versus prevention pride", European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 30 pp.1-23   House, R.J. (1995), "Leadership in the twenty-first century: a speculative inquiry", in Howard, A. (Eds),The Changing Nature of Work, , Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA   Kersten, A. (2005), “Using sense-making methodology for making sense of insanity”, paper presented at a non-divisional workshop held at the meeting of the International Communication Association, New York City   Kets de Vries, M. (2004), "Dysfunctional leadership", Encyclopedia of Leadership, Berkshire/Sage, Great Barrington, MA   Kotter, J.P. (1995), "Leading change: why transformational efforts fail", Harvard Business Review, , pp.59-67   Lok, P., Crawford, J. (2004), "The effect of organisational culture and leadership style on job satisfaction and organisational commitment: a cross-national comparison", The Journal of Management Development, Vol. 23 No.4, pp.321-38   Paul, J., Strbiak, C.A., Landrum, N.E. (2002), "Psychoanalytic diagnosis of top management team dysfunction", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 17 No.5, pp.381-93.   Pettigrew, A.M. (1985), The Awakening Giant: Continuity and Change in Imperial Chemical Industries, Blackwell, Oxford, .   Pool, S.W. (2000), "Organizational culture and its relationship between job tension in measuring outcomes among business executives", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 19 No.1, pp.32-4   Ribière, V.M., Sitar, A. (2003), "Critical role of leadership in nurturing a knowledge-supporting culture", Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Vol. 1 No.1, pp.39-48   Pritchett, P. (1996), Resistance: Moving Beyond the Barriers to Change, Pritchett and Associates, Dallas, TX   Schein, E.H. (2004), Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA   Schein, E.H. (1992), Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2nd ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA   Sturdy, A., Grey, C. (2003), "Beneath and beyond organizational change management: exploring alternatives", Organization, Vol. 10 pp.651-62   Taylor-Bianco, A., Higgins, E.T., Klem, A. (2003), "How ‘fun/importance’ fit impacts performance: relating implicit theories to instructions", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 29 pp.1091-103.   Taylor-Bianco, A., Bianco, J., Thomas, E. (2004), "Managerial coping with organizational change: the role of self-regulation and proactive behavior", paper presented at Conference Proceedings from the Annual Conference   Tourigny, L., Dougan, W.L., Washburn, J., Clements, C. (2003), "Explaining executive integrity: governance, charisma, personality and agency", Management Decision, Vol. 41 No.10, pp.1035-49.

Management of Change

INTRODUCTION Ideally, change involves movement away from present state towards future state and or response to such significa...

Manager-led or self-directed teams

Among the four types of teams, ‘manager-led team’ best describes my current organization. This type of team, along with the other three categories, has its benefits and downsides. The weight of responsibility is given to the team manager as he or she is in-charge for defining the goals, methods and functioning of the team. Since all the basic administrative work is done by the manager, team member could actually execute their own jobs with efficiency. Given that leader has professional background, team members can get their work done with the supervision of an experienced person. Through this, team members deliver quality outputs at all times while dismissing the unproductive practices in the workplace. Another benefit of having managers in team is the responsible implementation of assigned work. Team members won’t have to assume their role; specific works are given directly to them and thus saves time and effort in the process.                However, team members would have little autonomy over their works because of the fact that control is largely placed on the manager’s hand. Responsibilities have the tendency to be diffused within the team in the case that the manager lacks expertise and supervisory skills. Conformity to the leaders, in addition, often leads to a sense of discreteness that could further lead to lack of unity. Further, centralization in decision-making is not an effective way to empower team members. As a team member myself, I felt the scarcity in involvement for the reason that decisions concerning the whole team are not achieved through consensus. Though there is a presence of identifiable objectives for the group, the idea that people constantly dwell on the need to voice out their own concerns as members drives them to be dysfunctional and unproductive as a result. The process is not providing the team members with helpful ways to interact with each other. In effect, team spirit and team work were sacrificed.   Bibliography Thompson, L. L. (2007). Making the Team: A Guide for Managers. (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall.

Manager-led or self-directed teams

Among the four types of teams, ‘manager-led team’ best describes my current organization. This type of team, along with the ot...

Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan

Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 2.1 Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan             The service industry has greatly contributed to the economic growth of Taiwan. Basically, Clark, H. (2001) stated that the hospitality and tourism industry is expected to continue growing within the succeeding years. Actually, the success of the industry is partly attributed to the external factors providing an environment suitable for business such as the political and economic stability of the market and tourism efforts of the government to encourage and draw visitors from other countries and partly from the management and business practices developed and maintained by the individual businesses conducive to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.             The vibrant hospitality industry developed after passing through an industry cycle due to both external and internal factors affecting the number of tourists whose needs the industry meets. The hotel industry in Taiwan is delineated into international and domestic hotels based on business ownership and domestic hotels are also subdivided into domestic company owned hotels and family owned hotels depending on the scale of operation and ownership of the hotel (Dennis et. al, 2003). These hotels differ in a variety of ways according to the manner that they utilize their available and created resources and business strategies to actualize their business goals.             Despite the differences in the scale of operation, organizational structure and business strategies of international and domestic hotels, the common objective is to utilize and maximize their resources to achieve a high brand equity founded upon efficient and excellent quality of service that results to customer satisfaction and eventually to customer loyalty.  According to Nguyen and Leblanc, (2001), international and domestic hotels build a strong industry through their ability to cater to the diverse needs of customers in terms of price, customer relationship, accommodation arrangements, and other diverse hospitality needs of customers. Although there is competition among international hotels, international and domestic hotels, and among domestic hotels it cannot be denied that these hotels provide distinct hospitality services giving customers options for their service preferences.             As discussed, the Taiwan hospitality industry developed after experiencing a business cycle with its initial high during the implementation of the Six-Year National Development Plan applicable for the years 1991 to 1996, but becomes low with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, and a rise again in the performance of the hospitality industry at present (Global Hospitality News Archive, 2003).             During the initial high of the hospitality industry in the mid 90s, the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan reported that building the hospitality industry requires leadership on the part of the government and the leading hotels within the industry to provide both administration and guidance to direct the industry towards growth; comprehensive and holistic facilities planning for the industry; and sufficient goal-oriented training for the employees of the hospitality industry (Chen, 1996).  The result of the Six-Year National Development Plan is the increase in the gross domestic product of the country by 1.1 percent for the period 1990 to 1994 (Bailey, 1996) and .7 percent in 1997 (Hsieh, 1998). The economic growth spurred the development of the hospitality and tourism industry in Taiwan. The 1997 Annual Report on Tourism showed that the composition of the visitors to Taiwan were mostly from other Asian countries who were also experiencing growth. Close to 76 percent of the tourists in Taiwan were Asians with the remaining percentage from North America, Europe and other regions. Apart from international tourism, the economic growth that Taiwan experienced also proved helpful to the hospitality industry by encouraging domestic tourism (Wise, 1993). In 1996, the average number of trips within Taiwan was 2.99 increasing to 3.2 in 1997 as a result of economic growth and the policy of declaring public holidays (Hsieh, 1998). Economic growth translates to income for households and the empowerment to spend not only on their needs but also for leisure activities such as travel. The five-day workweek implemented in 1998 limited the time available for international travels resulting to the consumption of domestic hospitality and tourism industry services. The Tourism Bureau is strengthening international tourism through innovative leisure resorts and tourism packages. The visitor expenditure of foreign tourists amounted to 3.4 billion in 1997 with a US $193.56 average daily spending for every visitor. The cost of hotel accommodations amounted to around 50 percent of the daily spending. (Lu, 1999) The bureau also sought to create an environment conducive to the hospitality business by releasing a promotional brochure in different languages, using the internet as a marketing strategy, and participating in organizations for international tourism cooperation such as the East Asia Travel Association, American Society of Travel Agents and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. The industry expects to gain external support through government efforts to help the industry grow. In 2003, the industry experienced a rapid decrease in the occupancy rates because of the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS in the region.  In the May 2003 new report of the China Post, around 84 percent of hotels in Taiwan had a lower than 30 percent occupancy rate and 96 percent of the hotels in Taiwan incurred losses. In the survey made by Pan Asia Human Resource Corporation, 79 percent of the 2,452 hotels questioned viewed the effect of the SARS outbreak as very severe. The quarantine measure implemented in the Ho Ping Hospital resulted to the deterioration of 79.01 percent of hotels represented by 50 to 60 percent drop in occupancy rates resulting to losses. In an effort to prevent further losses, many of the hotels requested some of their employees to take unpaid leaves or take their annual leave, implemented salary cuts, and suspended the payment of salaries until business performance improves. The owners of firms have asked the government for a bailout plan. (Global Hospitality News Archive, 2003)             In just a few months, the industry development that the government and business owners sought to achieve was brought down by the SARS epidemic. Between April and May, all hotels tried to alleviate their losses by offering large discounts up to 70 percent of the original price in an effort to maintain the operations of the industry. Inter-industry collaborations were also in place such as the offer of a package that includes hotel accommodations as well as air fare for a discounted price. (Dennis et. al, 2003)             The government held an emergency meeting to develop a plan to help the hospitality and tourism industry. A plan to rescue the ailing airline transportation sector was implemented through the reduction of the fees for local airlines at the expense of government revenue. Tax cuts and exemptions were also planned for the other sub-sectors of the tourism industry. The legislature also approved the proposal preventing the local banks from not approving loans needed by the businesses within the tourism industry for short-term financing. (Dennis et. al, 2003)             In 2004, the SARS outbreak has been controlled leaving behind bankruptcies for the hotels and other businesses unable to cope up with the economic cost of the epidemic. By the end of 2004, the hospitality industry in Taiwan is still in the verge of development but fairing well because of the growth in economy with the vibrancy in the different industries after the arrest of the SARS epidemic.             At the end of 2005, the November 12 issues of Asia Times reported that the tourism industry in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong continue to grow as observed through the rampancy of hotel construction in the different business and tourism centers of the country. The rate of arrival of international visitors increased by 16 percent as a result of the increase in occupancy in the hotel industry. The growing hotel industry in Vietnam is expected to grow with China hosting several international events such as the 2005 Miss World and the upcoming 2008 Olympics. With a favorable business environment, the competition is expected to heat up requiring the management of the different hotels to develop and establish management and operations strategies to draw customers and achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty.               2.2 Building Brand Image             International and domestic hotels will be able to keep up with the demands of a growing market for the industry by making the industry service-based instead of price-based. International and domestic hotels set their respective prices based on service and not on price alone. The key component to brand management is the implementation of an integrated approach where companies are able to say what they can offer relative to their competition, do what they offer and promise to customers and confirm it through consistent practice. The value of saying, doing and confirming should be internalized in the company culture. (Cai and Hobson, 2004)             Building brand image to achieve competitive advantage in the hotel industry requires management to treat the service as experience goods (Nguyen and Leblanc, 2001).  In treating hospitality service as experience goods, establishments focus on providing a pleasant experience for customers to create the image that the hotel wants to portray to the market. However, the image is only established once the hotel is able to consistently do what it says to the satisfaction of the different needs of customers. Management will then direct all efforts of the company towards the creation of a company culture that provides a satisfactory service that meets the experience requirements of customers and eventually to achieve customer loyalty. It is after the achievement of a good brand image that the hotel can justify its price. The brand image justifies price and not the other way around.             Brand image is one of the factors that hotels should consider if they plan to achieve consumer-based brand equity. Brand image affects the development of a customer base of the hotel and the consequent improvement in financial performance (Kim, Kim & An, 2003). The development of a brand image should be based on the customer’s viewpoint. This means that a hotel should initially have updated information on the current trends in market demand before the company can formulate a plan to develop its brand image through customer satisfaction. The practice of providing total customer satisfaction was developed within the industry from knowing that customers require a hotel service that integrates accessibility and delivery of material needs with service.             Brand image is dependent upon the feelings that consumers and other establishments have about the organization in relation to the evaluation of other competing brands. Marketing activities, such as advertising and promotions, falls under the general image of the organization. Once the organization has built its brand image, it should maintain this image because a negative change in the way that the brand name is regarded reflects on a decrease in customers and consequently of revenue. It takes twice as hard to rebuild a good brand image rather than initially building it. There are different management areas that the business should focus on in developing a good brand image. The people tasked to build brand image should think of two things in planning a strategy. These things are first is to sell the service of the organization as a short-term goal and second is to build image in the long run. During the process of promoting the brand name, the company should apply integrated marketing communications to ensure the efficient introduction of the quality of service that the organization stands for. Image is related to the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. The company should integrate all available resources and recognize opportunities such as combining a strong image with an external opportunity to create a strategic advantage. A comprehensive analysis of the image of the organization and its strengths and weaknesses should be integrated to solidify the connection with customers. The brand image should consider the different consumer behavior to be able to introduce a consistent message with the target market. To be able to effectively communicate the brand image to the public, it is important that within the organization the message and the brand image are clearly defined. The image should identify the values or principles of the organization and the extent that the organization has established its position. The purpose of communicating brand image is to instill a consistent and stable impression among customers. The general impression that hotels should develop is quality of service in terms of amenities, personnel and meeting the particular needs of customers for the market to develop an impression of the organization. The significant perception is that of the consumers rather than the view of the managers about the organization. Brand image is consumer-based because their perception about the organization determines their propensity to make decisions in choosing a particular hotel and in enlisting again the services of the hotel in the future. Brand image in the hotel industry has different components, which are tangible and intangible. The tangible components include the services offered by the organization; the different hotel branches in terms of location and accessibility; the marketing communications strategy of the organization; the name and logo of the organization representing the brand image; and the employees of the organization who are the forerunners of brand image. The intangible components include the operational and human resource policies of the organization; the organizational culture determining the beliefs and practices of company personnel; the external environment and location of the company such as the accepted personal and business practices of the particular country where the organization operates; and the publicity that the organization gets especially from the media. Brand image plays an important role in the perspective of the consumer. The brand image gives an assurance to the customer that the decision to obtain the services of the chosen organization in unfamiliar settings is worth it. Brand image also assures the customer of quality service when the latter has no previous experience of the organization. The image perceived of the organization also lessens the time spent looking for accommodations when the image meets the experience needs of the customer. The brand image also determines the nature and extent of connection that the customer develops with the organization based on the perceived openness of the organization.                          Brand image also plays an important role from the point of view of the organization. A good brand image ushers the acceptability of change and developments within the organization such as the introduction of new services and the putting up of new branches in different locations. The brand image determines the ability of the organization to determine the price of its services. A consistent brand image and consistently meeting the needs of customers results to the return of customers and positive endorsements through word-of-mouth. The brand image not only attracts customers but also qualified employees willing to work to maintain the brand image. A good brand image attracts favorable reviews from industry experts. 2.3 Delivering Quality Service             Competitive advantage is achieved by many organizations through their offer of superior service quality (Schmenner, 1995), which is a harder thing to do than offering product quality because there are a lot of service factors that are intangible and cannot be completely controlled such as the decisions and actions of employees and the result of the interaction between employees and different customers. Moreover, the customer judgment on the quality of service is based on the perceptions of the service recipient’s perceptions and expectations causing a difficulty in identifying and correcting service failures. (Hays and Hill, 2000).             Achieving service quality requires the organization to focus on building and transmitting the importance of service quality to the members of the organization. The efforts and contributions of management and personnel should be directed towards a clear vision of delivery of superior service quality. Employees should be motivated to provide quality service in all aspects of the operations of a service organization such as hotels. Outstanding service organizations have strong vision, initially market their offered service internally, evaluate service and publish results. (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985) There are two factors that affect perceived service quality, which are employee motivation and vision and organizational learning (Hays and Hill, 2000).             Quality is a significant predictor not only of profitability but also of the respective market share of organizations in the market (Buzzell and Gale, 1987).  The primary actors involved in ensuring quality are the personnel of the organization. The attributes of the personnel of the organization directed towards the achievement of quality plays an important role in consequently achieving customer satisfaction. The attributes emphasized in the field of service are commitment (Farber and Wycoff, 1991), organizational culture (Collier, 1994), and service delivery environment (Schneider, 1980). Employee attributes in the achievement of quality service is significant because service quality starts with people (Hostage, 1975).             The qualities of empathy, courtesy and responsiveness of employees in service delivery when combined in the interaction of personnel and customer influence the perceptions of customers on quality. Service personnel plays a significant role in service delivery that they are perceived to be an integral part of the service. Service employees not only create service but they also form part of service delivery (Czepiel et. al, 1985). This highlights the importance of motivating employees to become conscious of improving their performance and maintaining a standard quality of service based on organizational goals.           Developing a standard quality of service of the organization requires the determination of the goals of the company and the process of learning and improvement until such that the organization is able to establish a service quality that substantiates its brand image. Learning can be done in two ways, which are learning from employees and learning from customers. The organization should implement both an internal and external approach to learning (Marquardt and Reynolds, 1994). The rate that organizations learn constitutes a competitive advantage for the organization (Senge, 1990).              The organization should consider feedback from the employees in evaluating the effectiveness of a service because it is the personnel who directly observe the reaction and hear the complaints and praises of customers. Organization should also consider the views of customers by integrating a feedback system in service delivery. On the part of employees, the regular meetings and evaluations may be considered as the venue for collating employee experiences and comments on the service delivered and the system of delivery. On the part of customers, quality control is a system of getting the feedback of customers (Argyris and Schon, 1978). The hotel can establish a customer service booth or provide a form or a telephone number where their complaints can be voiced and addressed. The organization should use the records of complaints to assess and investigate the validity of claims, determine areas requiring change and device the most effective manner of making the change within a reasonable span of time.             In the delivery of quality service requires both internal and external consideration.  Internal consideration involves the creation of an organizational vision, the motivation of employees towards the realization of the visions and the establishment of a system for evaluating performance to facilitate learning. External consideration refers to information on the service expectations of customers, the integration of these expectations in the goals of the organization, and the establishment of a feedback system to solicit the participation of customers in evaluating the quality of service of the organization and enhancing organizational learning. Offering quality service to substantiate the brand image of the organization is primarily used to achieve customer satisfaction and eventually customer loyalty. 2.4 Achieving Customer Satisfaction             Customer satisfaction is what sustains the operations of the organization because an unsatisfied customer will not do business with the organization again and dissatisfaction may also dampen potential referrals to the friends and business associates of the unsatisfied customer. Even if the organization implement the newest technology in building the hotel and designing individual  rooms, offer the most expensive items for the use of customers, and train their personnel but if these do not meet the particular needs of customers, then satisfaction is not attained. The measurement of customer satisfaction is through the perception of customers and their propensity to engage the service again.             There is a direct connection between service, satisfaction, sales and profit (Gerson, 1993). However, these cannot be achieved without the imposition of measurements for performance. Measuring the customer satisfaction is important because everything that the organization measures are completed, improved and mastered. Having a measure of customer satisfaction also provides a detailed learning of the factors considered by customers as crucial to their satisfaction that will form the basis for identifying areas for improvement and the efficient change management. Every aspect of customer satisfaction should be centered on the customer.             The definition of customer satisfaction is based on the service that the customer expects to receive to become satisfied. A customer is satisfied whenever an expectation, whether real or perceived, is met or superseded (Gerson, 1993).  It is important for the organization to know the expectations of the customer and to know this the organization should ask the customer. This is the reason why in all service organizations, the personnel always ask for the preference of the customer. Starting from the reservation of hotel accommodations, the customer is asked about his or her preferences from the type of rooms, the amenities that comes with the room and other special arrangements. During the receiving and stay of the customer, there may be particular requests that the service personnel have to meet. An organization is able to provide satisfactory service by knowing the preferences of customer and anticipating the possible requests that customers may make.             For the organization to measure the value of customer satisfaction, the company must first measure the cost of delivering a poor service. There are several measures for determining the cost to the organization of poor service. First is lost customer revenue, which refers to the money that the organization will loose because of the loss of customer to a competitor because of poor service. Second is lost opportunity revenue that is the loss of money because of the decrease in the revenue that could have been achieved when the customer engages the services of the organization again and when the satisfied customer refers the service organization to friends and business associates. Third is customer replacement cost, which refers to the expenses that the organization will incur in looking for new customers. If the organization full comprehends the implications of these losses, then the company will start to recognize the role of customer satisfaction and profit.  (Gerson, 1993)             In the hospitality industry, customer satisfaction is based on the expected ultimate hotel experience of the customer (Sigala and Leslie, 2005). People no longer engage the services of hotels for board and lodging but customers seek a hotel experience that includes the amenities of the hotel, the services offered, the attitude of personnel, the completeness of service, and the manner that the organization values its customers. Although price still remains to be the consideration of customers, there are customers who are willing to pay a higher price for hotels with an excellent brand image but they also expect top service in return.              A hotel experience becomes measurable in terms of revenue when it is deemed a memorable. The organization increases the value of its services by including memorable experiences to service delivery. This is because the decisions of customers to consume and choosing a particular hotel are determined by hedonistic and psychological aspects (Gretzel and Fesenmaier, 2003). The ultimate hotel experience is that which satisfies the hedonistic expectations of customers. The experience creates a connection between the organization and its brand image and the lifestyle of the customer in the context of the intentions of both parties. There are physical and psychological considerations in achieving the ultimate hotel experience, which are the physical components of the service such as amenities and comforts and the psychological components such as the ambiance of the hotel, attitude of personnel and the drive to fulfill the emotions that people want to feel in a hotel. 2.5 Achieving Customer Loyalty             A loyal customer is a client that engages the hospitality services of a hotel every time an opportunity arises. Customer loyalty refers to the fidelity that a customer has for a particular organization as a result of a consistent experience of satisfaction from the services of the particular hotel. (Bowen and Shoemaker, 1998). Mutual trust develops based on the expectation on the part of the customer that the hotel will consistently meet the needs of the customer and on the part of the organization that the customer will patronize its services.              Achieving customer loyalty and retention involves the implementation of plans that prevent customers from changing their hotel preference. There are three considerations in preventing customers from changing their preference. First is the context of the engagement of the services of the organization. The needs and requirements of customers change depending upon the change in their circumstances and it is important that a hotel can accommodate the expectations of customers despite the changes in the context of the service engagement. The quality of service should still be consistent despite the fact that the customer previously visited the hotel on business and returns for leisure. Second is the control that the organization has on the marketing mix to efficiently maximize resources to provide a pleasurable experience to the satisfaction of customers. Price, location, promotions and services are the different aspects of hotel operations that the organization can control. Management should ensure that the operation of the hotel is synchronized in the direction of achieving customer loyalty.  Third is the consideration of the customer in terms of the background and the demographics of the customer. The background of the customer determines the service expectations of the customer, the fulfillment of which determines the propensity of the customer to return to the hotel in the future. Hotels should customize their services to accommodate cultural differences. There are cultures that require separate accommodations for men and women or the particular preparation of food. These aspects should be known and considered by the organization in providing service to international customers. (Morgan and Dev, 1994)                Service considerations include the physical and psychological aspects. The physical aspects include the accessible lay out of the rooms, elevators and stairs, bathrooms, foyers, restaurants and bars, and other significant aspects that contribute to the achievement of loyalty. The technical aspects of functionality also includes cleanliness and orderly placement of furniture in the room, the size and comfort of the bed, wall paper and decorations, quality of bathroom, facilities of the room. The functional aspects of the service include the style of service delivery, the presence of a customer service area, cleaning service and food delivery service. The psychological aspects of service delivery are the friendliness of the service personnel, speed of service, the attitude of employees towards customers, the ambiance of the hotel and the overall service reputation of the establishment. (Lewis and Pizam, 1981)             Price is a factor that contributes to customer loyalty. Pricing a hotel service is difficult because of the intangibility of the thing being valued (Dearden, 1978) Price that the organizations impose for their services primarily depends upon their official rating. A five star hotel has a higher price than a two star hotel. Generally price setting is cost-based. However, there are instances where price can be used as a competitive advantage for some sectors of the market. Whether the pricing system is cost or competition based or both, the organization should consider their target customers and decide based on the pricing that would effectively draw customers and maintain their loyalty. Price is also based on a good brand image that contributes to the motivation for customer loyalty.                          The location of the hotel is another factor that contributes to customer loyalty. Hotel location is a significant consideration depending on whether the customer is traveling for business or leisure purposes. A customer engaging the services of a hotel because of a business engagement in the area looks for a hotel that provides all his or her services especially the proximity to the venue of the business engagement. Businessmen travel with considerations for time and they would not ordinarily engage then services of a hotel that is far from the business areas. Leisure customers on the other hand consider the proximity of the hotel to the tourist locations and leisure activities that they want to experience. Location also matters to customers who are passing by the place and merely looking for transient accommodations. The smaller, more homely hotels located near major routes are usually the choice of accommodation for travelers and the small budget groups. (Hall, 1999)              Promotion is the other factor that contributes to customer satisfaction. Promotions in the hotel industry are classified into loyalty strategies, branding and relationship marketing. The common loyalty strategy is the issuance of loyalty cards that represents perks for frequent customers. This may work for some and not for others but if it works then the company expects to gain profit. Retaining 5 percent of customers will increase profit by 100 percent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). This is an excellent incentive for organizations to find a promotional program that efficiently retains at least 5 percent of customers for it to gain profit.

Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan

Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature 2.1 Development of the Hotel Industry in Taiwan The service ind...

Team Building in the Context of Virtual Groups

To gain competitive advantage, firms are turning to team structures and team design used to support organizational goals involving structures such as cross functional teams, project teams, self-managed teams, intact work teams, employee participation teams, problem-solving teams, maintenance or support teams and management teams (Baltazar & Mealiea, 2005). Cohen and Baily reported that in the United States, eighty-two of the companies employing more than a hundred employees are turning into groups to support organizational goals (Cited from Baltazar & Mealiea, 2005).              A team is a “group of people mutually independent on one another to achieve a common goal” Beich (2001). According to Beich (2001), the primary advantage of teamwork is a better end result. Teams are responsive to the dynamic and ever-changing needs of the marketplace. They allow the organizations to be closer and much more sensitive to the needs of the customers. Teams are also more informed about advanced technology and are faster in response compared to the traditional hierarchies. Teams working together were found out to have more and better input which results better ideas and decisions and higher quality output compared to individuals working alone (Beich, 2001). In any organization, the usual problems may be due to miscommunication (Beich, 2001). However, in good teamwork, there is widening of the circle of communication. Organizational members will understand the jobs and roles of other people resulting to an appreciation and recognition for colleagues and a desire to help one another, making their tasks easier. This advantage of better communication between colleagues when there is shared information will result actual increase in learning. Meaning, there will be an increase in understanding of other people’s views and ideas which will give the team the opportunity to draw on individual strengths and recompense for individual weaknesses in a more positive way (Beich, 2001). Also, Luft and Ingham (n.d.) note in their Johari Window model that good communication comes out through opening to each other the disclosure and feedback.             The corporate world has indeed adapted and embraced the concept of team building because it is believed that more can actually be produced from a team compared  when an individual works alone (May, 2002). Each member of the team has something to offer, be it special skills, talents or creativity which can provide a complete picture if brought together with the other members skills and talents. Consequently, team members will be able to improve on the perceptions and thoughts of individual members, making a decision more substantial compared to one from an individual worker. It is generally important to develop camaraderie, loyalty and goodwill among the team members (May, 2002). Virtual World             No organization can escape the effects of operating in a continuously evolving environment. The forces for change are so great that the very survival and success of any organization depends on how well they respond to these changes and stay ahead of change. In this competitive era, change becomes a very important factor for survival (Sims, 2002).             The organization’s challenge is to “move beyond the environmental turbulence and deal with organizational transitions by learning and actively managing change” (Brunning, Cole & Huffington, 1997). Changes from forces such as globalization, relentless technological advances, unprecedented competition, political upheaval and the opening of new markets apply constant pressure among organizations regardless of their size and types. Consequently, organizations are beginning to shift their gears in response to the evolving developments of the world (Sims 2002).             Information revolution is one of these changes. Many organizations have altered the way they transact their businesses and their internal structures. There is a whole new world out there – the virtual world - which challenged many of the existing ideas about doing business (Czerniawska & Potter 1998). Companies have already started their exploration of the virtual world which includes the company’s determination of building virtual teams to keep up with the latest trend and remain or gain competitive advantage. The world is dynamically moving toward a distributed work force that utilizes electronic technology to connect workers and functions at scattered sites (Barner, 1996). It has indeed changed the nature of work and from the sales representative whose company database allows her to give customers immediate information on new product features, to the shipping employee who can monitor goods in real time (Barner, 1996). Building Virtual Teams             In the recent years, the idea of virtual teams has grown substantial attention (Jackson, 1999). Virtual team working is primarily involved in the association and teamwork between a geographically and temporarily separated workplace (Cited from Jackson, 1999). Upon building virtual teams, Adair’s Team Development Model can be very useful, such as Feidler’s leadership theory --- matching leadership style with the best situation, Tuckman’s theory on team building and the Johari Window model. Adair states that for teams to be successful, all three parts (achieving the task, building the team and developing individuals) should be present (www.altantachallenge.com). Tuckman adds that all processes must be present in team building: forming, storming, norming, performing, mourning. In the context of virtual teams, Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory can also be of use as all employees vary in their maturing levels as can be seen in their actions. If managers of virtual teams will be able to understand these, then they can assess which of these employees are of higher value to their company and which tasks to assign to more responsible and mature employees.             Barner (1996) has outlined three factors that have fuelled the rising growth and popularity of the virtual organization. First is the rapid and dynamic evolution of electronic technologies which facilitates the digital and wireless transfer of video, audio and test information. The second is primarily focused on the rapid and dynamic spread of computer networks. Countries such as Japan and the United States have maintained a strong global advantage over other countries because of this factor. Finally, the last is the booming growth of telecommuting enabling companies to provide faster response to their clientele and consumers; as well as reduce facility expenses and help workers meet their responsibilities for their families (Barner, 1996).             Jackson (1999) observed that virtual teams have a potential for global organizations. However, there have been many arguments made regarding the trust relationship in virtual teams. Although, many have been concerned in this area of study, little is actually understood on how the loss of physical proximity in virtual team working affects and influence trust relationships among its members (Jackson, 1999). Traditional Team-Building versus Virtual Team-Building             Virtual Team, defined by Webster and Hackley (2001), is a “group of people organized to collaborate with each other towards a common goal while located at two/more worksites distant from one another” (Cited from Redman & Sankar, 2003). The traditional team (also known as the “face-to-face” team), on the other hand, is a “group of people organized to collaborate with each other towards a common goal while meeting in the same location” (Redman & Sankar, 2003).             Cascio (2000) has outlined a list of advantages for using virtual teams, as well as examples for each. According to Cascio (2000), the use of virtual teams in an organization will increase productivity. The IBM, for instance, has gained about 15 to 40 percent in productivity. In addition, US West has also gained as much as 40 percent in productivity. Second, virtual teams can reduce real estate costs. In example, IBM has eliminated some offices that are no longer needed because of implementing virtual teams. Because of this, they have save 40 to 60 percent per work site. Third advantage is the increase in profits for organizations with virtual teams such as Hewlett-Packard which  has moved all their salesperson into virtual workplaces. Consequently, it has doubled their revenue.  Fourth, there is actually better customer service when implementing a virtual team. For example, employees and staff of Anderson Consulting that had virtual workplaces spent about 25 percent more time with their customers. Furthermore, there is better and improved access to global markets. John Brown Engineers and Constructors, for example, after implementing virtual teams have able to work globally with their clients. Finally, the use of virtual teams in organizations means environmental benefits as well. At Georgia Power, it is reported that virtual teams have lessened annual commuting miles by nearly one million miles which resulted to the lessening of automobile emissions of about 35,000 pounds (Cascio, 2000).             Webster and Hackley (2001) noticed that there may be evident advantages and success stories regarding virtual teams; however, it is reported that almost half of all virtual teams have failed to achieve its goals (Cited from Redman & Sankar, 2003). In an interview with Robert Barner, he states that virtual teams necessitate a very high degree of communication and coordination. As virtual team members will rely much of their communication to means such as the email or phone conferences, many of the subtle “contextual clues”  that help one of us guide and shape our communications will be lost like the body language and paraverbal clues or voice inflection. Consequently, in a virtual environment, it is a lot easier to mix-up major communications. An angry email that is written in haste and sent before one has had the chance to carefully think about as it is one classic example of this case (Planning with a Team, 2001).             In addition, virtual teams are nonstop; they run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This actually means that as team members of a virtual team , they are geographically distributed across different nations, and members must be willing to adapt to different time zones of other team members (Planning with a Team, 2001).             Lastly, according to Barner, virtual teams have to face the obstacle of “building a face” which means developing a human side of who they are. One way of overcoming this obstacle is for them to choose a name for themselves or having a web site exclusively for the team to post their pictures and share some personal biography information. This way, it can help them be more human to  fellow other team members (Planning with a Team, 2001). Conclusion             Virtual teams have become an efficient way to save on time as well as money. Many businesses have begun using them in their daily operations (Redman & Sankar, 2003). To have successful virtual teams, team members must have a thorough understanding on the purpose and mission of their project, to feel that they are part of the team and be responsible and accountable for their work. Furthermore, before the project begins and the implementation of virtual teams, exact details must be worked out first, as well as the due dates and the technologies that will be used (Redman & Sankar, 2003).             Researches show that virtual teams have a lot of potential; however, it takes a great deal of more planning and initial effort to perform at the levels of face-to-face teams. It is predicted that in the future, virtual teams will be the fundamental organizational structure (Business Going Virtual, 2003). It must be noted that face-to-face meetings bring a special chemistry and greater power of communication (Grosse, 2002). One executive in global ecommerce comments that in face-to-face meetings, eventhough there are actually much time spent on arguing, at the point when the team gets a consensus, the team moves on as one. Face-to-face meetings within the traditional teams keep a much more personal meeting compared to virtual teams wherein means of communication are done either via email, video conferencing or phone (Grosse, 2002).             Since the very major problem of virtual teams is the issue of effective communication between team members, to be able to overcome this obstacle and achieve effective communication, team members must communicate frequently and continuously  use active listening. Team members must keep communication clear and simple, check understanding and ask for clarifications on vague areas. Different technologies may be used relative to its advantages. There must be respect for other cultures and team members must be sensitive to cultural differences to build relationships and seeds of trust that will bloom as team members get to build bonds of friendship (Grosse, 2002).

Team Building in the Context of Virtual Groups

To gain competitive advantage, firms are turning to team structures and team design used to support organizati...