Background of Four Seasons Hotels

Question:

Discuss About The Conflicts Establishment Maintenance Culture?

The workplace is the most culturally diverse environment as it consists of individuals from different cultural and religious background along with distinct personality and working preferences. In terms of the hospitality industry, diversity is in terms of both employees and customers. As a result, conflicts and tensions are frequently encountered while maintaining and establishing a corporate culture. Due to this, the working environment, the service quality, and the relationships are hampered.

This essay critically analyses the tensions and conflicts encountered while maintaining and establishing the corporate culture for Four Seasons Hotels. Evaluating the tensions and issues faced by the hotel will help in understanding the scenario and emphasize in improving the issues.

Four Seasons Hotels is an international chain of hotels headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The hotel chain has more than 100 hotels worldwide with eminent owners such as Bill Gates and Prince of Saudi Arabia. The Four Seasons Hotel was found in 1960 and since then has expanded globally and marked their presence. It is a luxurious chain of hotels with more than 40,000 employees working for the company (Fourseasons.com, 2017). However, recently the hotel has encountered some tensions and conflicts while maintaining and establishing the corporate culture. This has resulted in the quality of service provided by the hotel thereby, hampering their image and business.

Member identity helps the employees to relate to the entire organization rather than only with their job roles and specifications. As commented by Goetsch and Davis (2014), emphasizing more on the individual job type and professional expertise helps in increasing the overall productivity of the organizations. However, as argued by Powell and DiMaggio (2012), failure in establishing member identity leads to lack of relation and connection of the employees with the organization and the working culture. Four Seasons Hotels are facing troubles in establishing member identity thereby, resulting in lack of effective relationship and dedication towards the working culture. The employees of the chain of hotels are focusing more on their job type along with their field of expertise rather than associated with the entire working culture of the organization. As a result, the Four Seasons Hotels are failing to engage their employees thereby, hampering the working environment of the company. The employees come, work and leave the company at the end of the day without associating and communicating with the organizational culture (Eccles, Ioannou and Serafeim 2012).

Tensions in Establishing Member Identity

Establishment of the positive working environment is critical in building the corporate culture. S commented by Alvesson (2012), limited relationship with the fellow employees results in more productivity and increased service level. However, as criticized by Franks et al. (2014), lack of effective relationship results in an unhealthy and competent workplace that hampers the working environment and the culture. The Four Seasons chains of Hotels are facing issues in establishing a positive working environment for their employees. Moreover, the relationship between the managers and the employees are extremely formal that is eventually hampering the relationship along with affecting the relationship. The company is failing in building a healthy and friendly working environment thereby, failure in maintaining an effective corporate culture. As mentioned by Lavie, Haunschild and Khanna (2012), if employees of the company are more self-centered it makes them negligent in considering the needs and necessities of the entire organization. However, as argued by Kinicki and Kreitner (2012), it is the fault of the organization that results in negligent employees. In the case of the Four Seasons chain of hotels, the company is failing in engaging the employees with the organization, its requirement, and needs. The company is emphasizing more on increasing productivity and business rather than focusing on engaging with the employees. As a result, the employees have become self-centered and only focus on completing their task before leaving. According to Rast III, Hogg and Giessner (2013), autocratic leadership helps the employees to learn and enhance their professional skills. However, as criticized by De Hoogh, Greer and Den Hartog (2015), autocratic leadership styles results in building a gap between the higher authorities and the employees of a company. In the case of the Four Seasons Hotels, the company is failing in engaging their employees with the organization. This is hampering the overall corporate culture of the hotel, as the employees are working as manual robots. Due to lack of effective leadership style, the employees are feeling demotivated to work. Lack of dedication, urge and engagement are noticed among the employees of the Four Seasons chain of hotels. Due to this, the company is failing in maintaining effective corporate culture.

As mentioned by Alvesson and Sveningsson (2015), strictly professional relationship helps in maintaining the positive corporate culture. However, as argued by Thornton, Ocasio and Lounsbury (2015), friendliness and bonding between the employees are necessary for enhancing the quality of service. The major tension encountered by the Four Seasons Chain of Hotels is that they are failing in establishing an effective communication among the employees and between the employees and the managers or the higher authorities. As a result, conflicts between the employees are frequently noticed. The employees are more concerned in achieving their goals and fulfilling their task. The autocratic leadership style has resulted in building an extremely competent working environment for the Four Seasons Hotels. Due to the leadership style, the employees are more threatened and scared of the managers and are not enjoying their job. The reason for developing an extremely competitive environment is due to lack of communication and healthy relationship between the employees. Due to the conflict between the employees, they do not have each other’s back. According to Vaara et al. (2012), the hospitality industry is more about teamwork as this allows them to enhance the quality of the service. However, in the case of the Four Seasons chain of hotels, due to frequent conflicts between the employees, teamwork is not facilitated. This has given rise to an extremely competitive working environment for the company in which the employees are not ready to help and support each other while providing service. Moreover, the employees are impatient towards each other and ready to take advantage of the mistake on the fellow employees. Due to this nature and behavior within the employees, they are unable to learn and enhance them professionally. Additionally, lack of support and togetherness among the employees are hampering the quality of service provided by the Four Seasons Hotels.

Struggle in Building a Positive Working Environment

Another major tension faced by the Four Seasons Hotels is the conflict between the employees while performing as a team. According to Epstein and Buhovac (2014), professional relationship allows the employees to remain focused in terms of their goals and objectives. However, as criticized by Helms Mills and Mills (2017), lack of communication and friendliness among the employees hampers the team performance. Lack of friendliness and communication among the employees is a major tension encountered by the Four Seasons chain of Hotels. While working for a team, the employees lack the support of the fellow team members. As a result, the company is failing to achieve the goals and objectives and the quality of service is also hampered. Due to lack of understanding and friendliness among the employees of the team, conflicts are frequently noticed. For example, the employees are impatient in listening to all the team members that are eventually hampering in service and retaining the organization in achieving the goals. Additionally, the employees within a team are lacking support for the fellow employees. This is mitigating the scope of mutual learning and sharing for the employees while working as a team. Due to this conflict, it is difficult for the Four Seasons chain of Hotels in maintaining corporate culture.

According to Robbins and Judge (2012), rewards and recognitions impose additional financial expenses for the organizations. However, as argued by Odle-Dusseau, Britt and Greene-Shortridge (2012), rewards and recognition help in motivating the employees for giving their best towards their work. Therefore, rewards and recognition help in maintaining an effective corporate culture within an organization. The Four Seasons Chain of Hotels is lacking in appreciating the contribution and hard work of the employees. Rewards and recognitions can be both in terms of monetary benefits and additional facilities. The management of the Four Seasons Hotels is failing in maintaining the effective corporate culture, as they are failing in recognizing the contribution and hard work of the employees enhancing their business.

As the company is not recognizing the contribution and the hard work of the employees, the employees are lacking dedication and enthusiasm towards the work. The employees are only emphasizing on fulfilling their responsibility (Hu et al. 2012). Due to lack of appreciation, the employees of the Four Seasons chain of Hotels are not taking any initiatives in their job responsibility. The employees are not going an extra mile for fulfilling the needs and demands of the organizations and the customers. As a result, the customers availing the service of the Four Seasons chain of Hotels are lacking warmth and comfortableness. The employees of the company are lacking enthusiasm and dedication towards their roles and responsibilities, as the management is failing to appreciate the efforts, contributions and hard work of the employees.

Impact of Autocratic Leadership style

The Four Seasons Chain of Hotels is also facing issues in terms of maintaining cultural differences within the organizations. As mentioned by Armstrong and Taylor (2014), the workplace is the most diversified environment, as this consists of employees from different cultural background, working preferences, and individual characteristics. This is due to lack of bonding and positive relationship among the employees. Moreover, due to lack of bonding and friendliness among the employees, lack of respect is also noticed. Lack of respect within the team is resulting in major conflicts within the team members. For example, another directly disapproves the idea suggested by one team member. This hampers the work progress of the team along with the organizational performance. While working as a team, the team members prioritize their personal agenda before considering the goals and objectives that need to be achieved (Von Krogh, Nonaka and Rechsteiner 2012). Moreover, the company is also failing in resolving conflicts among the employees efficiently.

In order to maintain the corporate culture effectively, the Four Seasons Chain of Hotels need to improve their leadership style. The organization need to follow democratic leadership style, as this will allow effective relationship between the higher authorities and the employees and among the employees. Changing the leadership style will provide an opportunity for the company to involve the employees in decision-making process thereby, making them feel valued towards the organization. Additionally, the company needs to help in building effective relationship among the employees. The employees will be able to improve them professionally, if mutual learning and sharing is practiced among them (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).

In this essay, it can be concluded that the Four Seasons chain of Hotels is facing real issues and conflicts in maintaining corporate culture. This is because the organization is failing in establishing effective and positive working environment. The Four Seasons Chain of Hotels is failing in engaging the employees with the organization and its culture. Due to the failure in engaging the employees with the organization, the employees have become more self-centered. This has resulted in the extremely competent working environment along with negative workplace. The extremely competent working environment has resulted in lack of bonding, friendliness, and communication among the employees. Due to the nature of lack of mutual learning and sharing among the employees, working, as a team within the Four Seasons Chain of Hotels has become a real concern. Moreover, the management is unsuccessful in recognizing the efforts and contribution of the employees thereby, making them less enthusiastic and deducted towards their work. The aforementioned conflicts have negatively affected the Four Seasons Chain of Hotels in maintaining effective corporate culture. Therefore, the chain of hotels needs to improve their leadership style, implement appropriate rewards and recognition system along with establishing effective communication among the employees. This will help in resolving the conflicts and maintaining corporate culture by the Four Seasons Chain of Hotels thereby, enhancing their service quality and business.

Lack of Communication and Friendliness Among Employees

References

Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Alvesson, M., 2012. Understanding organizational culture. Sage.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

De Hoogh, A.H., Greer, L.L. and Den Hartog, D.N., 2015. Diabolical dictators or capable commanders? An investigation of the differential effects of autocratic leadership on team performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(5), pp.687-701.

Eccles, R.G., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2012. The impact of a corporate culture of sustainability on corporate behavior and performance (No. W17950). Cambridge, MA, USA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Fourseasons.com. (2017). Four Seasons History. [online] Available at: https://www.fourseasons.com/about_four_seasons/four-seasons-history/ [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].

Franks, D.M., Davis, R., Bebbington, A.J., Ali, S.H., Kemp, D. and Scurrah, M., 2014. Conflict translates environmental and social risk into business costs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(21), pp.7576-7581.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Helms Mills, J.C. and Mills, A.J., 2017. Rules, Sensemaking, Formative Contexts, and Discourse in the Gendering of Organizational Culture?. In Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures (pp. 49-69). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Hu, Q., Dinev, T., Hart, P. and Cooke, D., 2012. Managing employee compliance with information security policies: The critical role of top management and organizational culture. Decision Sciences, 43(4), pp.615-660.

Kinicki, A. and Kreitner, R., 2012. Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best practices. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Lavie, D., Haunschild, P.R. and Khanna, P., 2012. Organizational differences, relational mechanisms, and alliance performance. Strategic Management Journal, 33(13), pp.1453-1479.

Odle-Dusseau, H.N., Britt, T.W. and Greene-Shortridge, T.M., 2012. Organizational work–family resources as predictors of job performance and attitudes: The process of work–family conflict and enrichment. Journal of occupational health psychology, 17(1), p.28.

Powell, W.W. and DiMaggio, P.J. eds., 2012. The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. University of Chicago Press.

Rast III, D.E., Hogg, M.A. and Giessner, S.R., 2013. Self-uncertainty and support for autocratic leadership. Self and Identity, 12(6), pp.635-649.

Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T., 2012. Essentials of organizational behavior.

Thornton, P.H., Ocasio, W. and Lounsbury, M., 2015. The institutional logics perspective. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Vaara, E., Sarala, R., Stahl, G.K. and Björkman, I., 2012. The impact of organizational and national cultural differences on social conflict and knowledge transfer in international acquisitions. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), pp.1-27.

Von Krogh, G., Nonaka, I. and Rechsteiner, L., 2012. Leadership in organizational knowledge creation: A review and framework. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), pp.240-277.