The case study under consideration is entitled “Supporting the Organization’s Mission (The Georges Hotel)”. It was created by Myrna Gusdorf in 2013. The author describes the current issues connected with the staff’s behavior. The peculiar feature of the hotel is that it is run by the Mitchel Family. The case starts with the brief overview of the hotel and the Garden Terrace Restaurant. The hotel has one hundred sixty-three guest rooms that are served by seventy employees. Thirty-five employees work at the Garden Terrace Restaurant.
Owners of the Georges Hotel are Jeff and Chad Mitchell — two brothers that were involved in the hospitality business since childhood. Their parents had a motel, and boys grew up there. Jeff Mitchel was interested in a hospitality business since childhood. Jeff could do anything including cleaning rooms or sweeping the yard because he was passionate about working in hotels. On the contrary, Chad did not like this business, and he was not eager to help his family. Currently, Jeff is a chief executive officer at the Georges Hotel while Chad is a vice president of the community relations. Brothers’ attitude towards the hospitality business did not change. Jeff is ready to devote all his time and efforts to the work while Chad prefers playing golf and spending days in some other places. Chad’s wife, Cindy, saves the situation by executing her husband’s responsibilities. Cindy is the director of human resources. Cindy is well-respected by other employees, and she is an excellent partner for Jeff.
Most of the employees are family members. Relatives and friends are employed throughout the hotel. Such situation occurred spontaneously. As a director of human resources, Cindy always preferred hiring by referral. She believed that it was the best way to find the right people. Even now, when the hotel has an available job offer, Cindy tries to hire by referral. Jeff, Chad, and Cindy have emphasized the significance of the family relations in the hotel’s mission. According to the case study, “The hotel’s mission promises guests exemplary service and a memorable hotel experience. For employees, it promises a superior work environment and continued support for a satisfying career” (Gusdorf, 2013, p. 5). Family members are often invited to lunches or parties organized by the hotel.
Jeff plans to build another hotel and establish a multiunit organization in several cities. However, Cindy is worried that the successful operation of several hotels cannot be achieved with the help of the current approach to human resources management. For example, the Georges Hotel does not have an employee handbook, policies, strict supervision, and structured procedure for complaints. Cindy realizes that the principle of nepotism has become valuable for this hotel, but it is not appropriate for the multiunit organization. Several cases prove that fact. For instance, being hired by a family member makes people think that they cannot be fired. As a result, they avoid hard work and any attempts to improve their performance. The work of supervisors seems to be useless as far as they cannot discipline members of their family. Cindy believes that she should find a way to solve these issues before opening a new hotel.
The second part of the case study is devoted to the description of the recent changes and the conflict that occurred at the restaurant. The restaurant was remodeled into an upscale establishment. New employees from culinary art school were hired to improve the quality of services. However, newcomers do not like long-time servers. New employees consider that others are not professional enough. Long-term servers do not favor young employees too. The major conflict occurred between a new employee Greg and a long-time expediter Estelle. Estelle frequently returned plates with wrong garnishes to Greg, and he thought that she tried to sabotage him. Greg received a complaint from the client recently. He had lost his temper and talked to the client using abusive language. Then, Greg came into the kitchen and started yelling at Estelle.
Reference
Gusdorf, M. (2013). Supporting the Organization’s Mission (The Georges Hotel). Alexandria, VA: SHRM Publishing.