LEADERSHIP AND SKILLS – PLANNING AND CONTROL

Executive Summary

The Yang Sing Oriental Hotel has 48 bedrooms and suites designed for individuals, and the design was inspired by the cultural practices of these countries: Japan, India, China, and Thailand. Besides, it was fused and listed as a grade II building in the centre of Manchester. The hotel was refurbished from a paper mill and extended to 7 floors and comprised of 48 designed bedrooms, breakfast, bar, and lounges and is located in the best position along Portland streets and the corner of Princess near to the China Town area close to Manchester City (Jarvis, 2019, n.p). The project intends to share strategic goals and objectives with the potential investors to adequately source additional capital investment in the development of the facilities (Smith, 2017, p. 113).  Further, strategic goals communicate loyalty among the customers through developing positive hotel experience to them; and establish a hotel starting up revenue, profits, and growth target’s purpose within the provided time as well as a budget action plan (Marr, 2006, p. 21). The paper focuses on the aspects of project management that include money loss and overrunning of schedules and not meeting the performance requirements as expected in the project plan.

The main challenge faced in the design and construction process was coming up with the concept in the first place that may be utterly varied from others in the market. It started by considering what was infuriating the guests while staying at the hotel. The food provided in the hotel is extraordinary, and it is a mixture of western and eastern products. As the place beside the hotel, the management has not created a separate facility. Nonetheless, the hotel is offering breakfast rooms, bar snacks, and room services. The paper is accomplished by stating project objectives, performance measurement, stakeholder analysis, activities involved in the project, and resources. Additionally, the paper covers constraints and risks, communications, failure factors for the project, and finishing with the considerations on future operations.

Introduction

The Yang Sing Oriental Hotel has 48 bedrooms and suites designed for individuals, and the design was inspired by the cultural practices of these countries: Japan, India, China, and Thailand. Besides, it was fused and listed as a grade II building in the centre of Manchester (Manchester Evening News, 2013). The hotel offers unique services to the people in the city. Guests of this facility can access some services through an online booking system, selection of such services from extensive personalised menus. The hotel was refurbished from a paper mill and extended to 7 floors and comprised of 48 designed bedrooms, breakfast, bar, and lounges and is located in the best position along Portland streets and the corner of Princess near to the China Town area close to Manchester City (Manchester Evening News, 2013).

The hotel is built with cast iron internal columns, masonry external walls, and timber beams (Arzak Basterrechea, 2018, p. 38). Besides, the building was vacant for several years, and extensive repair works were needed to prevent further deterioration before the plans of converting the mill to the hotel (Arzak Basterrechea, 2018, p. 39). The structural conversion works comprised of the removal of the first central staircase and lift and construction of new lift and stair-cores and strengthening works to timber floor beam (Park and Lee, 2018, p. 551).

Problem Statement

The paper attempts to find ways of mitigating design problems by use of project management through sharing strategic goals and objectives with potential partners, communicating with the customers, and establishing resources. To mitigate design problems, the paper focuses on a detailed analysis of the critical aspect of project planning and control such as performance measurement, analysis of key stakeholders, project planning and scheduling, allocation of resources, assessment of potential constraints and risks, as well as the possible solutions towards the project implementation.

Project Objectives

• To share strategic goals and objectives with the potential investors to adequately fund additional capital investment in the development of the facilities.
• To communicate loyalty among the customers through developing positive hotel experience to them.
• To establish a hotel starting up revenue, profits, and growth target’s goal within the provided time as well as a budget action plan.

Performance Measurement

Various variables determine hotel performance. Based on the information provided by the hotel documentation, notably, the performance could be evaluated according to the hotel expenditure as well as hotel share of supply (Park and Lee, 2018, p. 554). Hotel expenditure in this scenario is computed from the money spent on the purchase or dealing with the products and services in hotel branches where visitors spend their nights. The supply shares of the facility are computed from the sales of products and services (Sung, Park, and Kim, 2019, p. 110).

Correspondence with the information on the hotel depicted that there are many existed methodological variations in the hotel reports. Hence the data needed not to undergo comparison from year to another year, and such data needs to be used only as financial estimates. By considering this perspective, as well as for the sake of the project, there is a likelihood of viewing how different hotel sections perform concerning each other in a year (Cohen, n.d, p. 372).

When opting for different scenarios, the hotel could be ranking from high to the low performer. Ideally, the weakest sections would then be ignored. For instance, the room allocation department was initially viewed as the worst five performers. Still, it was discovered instantly, and it could not affect the operation of the whole company.

Analysis of Pertinent Stakeholders

Intrinsically, the Yang Sing Oriental hotel would be operating and involving numerous stakeholders such as customers, non-government public bodies, local authorities, business partners, employees, government agencies, and other relevant stakeholders. Stakeholders such as general manager, project managers, planners, estimators, and environmental specialists have their roles and responsibilities defined by the organisation (TRIROJ and Chapman, 2019, p. 296; SHAHNAEI, 2017, p. 45). Nonetheless, there are some stakeholders, including non-government public bodies, government agencies, and customers, that should be analysed.

The stakeholders can be identified from government agencies, local authorities, and non-governmental organisations (Cohen, n.d, p. 386; Wong, 2018, p.65). Another category of stakeholders that can be identified are customers that come from various national trusts, business associates, and business partners (TRIROJ and Chapman, 2019, p. 297). Besides, charitable organisations and community-based organisations can form part of stakeholders of the hotel because they may influence the organisation through the provision of labour, market, security, and health care to the staff (SHAHNAEI, 2017, p. 46). Therefore, identification of relevant stakeholders is a vital process that must be accomplished before the involvement of these stakeholders in the running of operations in the hotel.

The Yang Sing Oriental hotel needs to use a mapping process to assist in sorting out potential stakeholders in the hotel industry. The firm has the mandate of identifying potential stakeholders that would bring a significant impact on hotel productivity. For instance, human resource management should employ only experienced and skilled personnel to maximise output (Cohen, n.d, p. 383; Wong, 2018, p.68).

Another analysis process is the division of these stakeholders into categories to aid in the development of a specific strategy. The Yang Sing Oriental hotel needs to take the initiative of categorising these stakeholders into small groupings (TRIROJ and Chapman, 2019, p. 298). Every category is identified, and the engagement level is also determined to enable the company to develop a strategy for a specific type.

The last analysis process is stakeholder involvement, where stakeholders are engaged in hotel activities through different channels. Stakeholders can be involved in the use of radio, television, and newspapers (Cohen, n.d, p. 389). Other popular ways of engagement include the internet, online questionnaires, chat rooms, and notice boards to provide information and seek feedback from different sources. Overall, the social media platform needs to be used by the management of companies inclusive of the Yang Sing Oriental hotel.

Contingency Plan/Activities

The Yang Sing Oriental hotel is becoming the most famous new hotel in the UK in this century that improves its competitive advantage in the industry (Jarvis, 2019, n.p). Unfortunately, there are huge barriers that affect the hotel to become competitive in the industry, perhaps because of many players in the hotel and restaurant industry (Wong, 2018, p.69). In other words, regulators of the business could be the barrier that making the hotel not to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the current setup. The utilisation of human capital resources, intellectual capital resources, and physical capital resources can be fundamental for the company to develop a strategy to be used in eliminating and reducing associated risks involved in the activities (Rylander and Peppard, 2003, p 321). Therefore, the company could create an action plan to help in the execution of operations. These activities are organised in an action plan and timeline, as shown in table 1. Activities of the hotel are in line with the goals and objectives of the project. Activities listed in table 1 portray loyalty communication with the customer to develop an exciting hotel experience. Additionally, these activities would lead to establishing start-up costs, profits, and consistent growth to the company according to the budget action plan.

Table 1: Proposed Action Plan

Table 1: Source (Author)

The overall performance of the company would be evaluated at the end of the year, where the developed structure of the hotel will be applied in developing another arrangement for the upcoming year. Intrinsically, the plan can be altered or manipulated to respond to anticipated changes brought by the external environment. The director of the Marketing Department will spearhead the Marketing team to conduct all advertising and related promotional activities.

Project Schedule/Plan

The project schedule as per the above project action plan is, as shown in diagram 1 below. The project schedule is prepared using Ms Project.

Diagram 1: Source (Author)

The project milestone in the Ms Project is not sensitive. The predecessors are not interdependent, and it means that in case the previous step fails, then the project continues to run. The other advantage of this project plan method is that each level has at least two months for development and that of validation. In case there is a problem, it would be revisited the month in which the activity is scheduled to take place. The other advantage of the proposed action plan is that each action plan is the solution to the previous action (Lester, 2007, p. 171). For example, if the contraction of social media fails, then the company might opt for advertising agency liaison.

Resources

The primary target of the Yang Sing Oriental hotel is to enhance customer satisfaction that would be reflected in high customer retention percentage. In essence, the company needs to properly utilise resources, which is completed by having a financial plan.

Table 2: Project Funding Summary

In the initial operation of the new facility, several activities would be involved that result in spending a significant amount of money. Indeed, the costs incurred are categorised, as shown in table 3.

Table 3: Initial Operation Cost

Constraints and Risks

The Yang Sing Oriental hotel will adopt a cross-function approach in the management of both day’s today hotel activities and the new package developments. One of the project objectives is “to share strategic goals and objectives with the potential investors to properly fund additional capital investment in the development of the facilities.” It implies that the hotel has budgetary constraints (Anon, 2019, n.p). There are plans for improving the facilities though the company is facing absolute insufficiency of funds. Adversely, the forthcoming funds are uncertain despite the budget being approved (SHAHNAEI, 2017, p. 49). Therefore, the hotel finance department must find other ways of getting funds to facilitate the improvement of the hotel. Risks such as insecurity, health, and environmental risks in the Yang Sing Oriental hotel have been minimised because of proper risk management programs (TRIROJ and Chapman, 2019, p. 300). Ideally, every section in the company has customised risk management programs that ensure all customers and employees are secured, and no deficiencies are experienced (Arzak Basterrechea, 2018, p. 40). Besides, these programs help in the mitigation and containment of risks, which result in reducing the probability of risk occurrence. Inherently, the Yang Sing Oriental hotel should create a constraint and risk management committee that would be responsible for dealing with constraints and risks as they come.

Communication Plan

Poor communication has been connected with the everyday problems experienced in most of the hotels and restaurants (Jun et al., 2012, p. 729). These problems can be avoided by following simple workplace procedures. Ideally, these problems can be eliminated through the creation of appropriate two-way contact policies to assist in aiding in dealing with issues that come from staffing, scheduling, reservation, orders, and inventory (Saulnier, 2019, p. 322). Inherently, there should be a need to hold regular staff meetings to make employees view things similarly as well as reviewing operations to establish how employees can work together (Rau, 2015, p. 110). The identification of problems will serve as the cornerstone of getting proactive solutions in the workplace.

The Yang Sing Oriental Hotel is known for its practical placement of orders because it has created detailed procedures for placing orders. Orders placed in the kitchen are subjected to follow an elaborate system to avoid serving incorrect or incomplete meals to customers (Saulnier, 2019, p. 325). Communication plays an important role here since it assists in connecting servers, expediters, and cooks (Rau, 2015, p. 112). Effective communication also increases accuracy on the written tickets, thus eliminating the possibility of misinterpretations between kitchen staff and staff in the dining room (Jun et al., 2012, p. 734). In general, communication has enabled the Yang Sing Oriental hotel to attract many customers globally.

Success/Failure Factors for the Project

The main challenge faced in the design and construction process was coming up with the concept in the first place that may be utterly varied from others in the market. It started by considering what was annoying guests when they spend at the hotel. It is done through the elimination of factors to make the stay of these guests to be pleasurable (Adam, 2016, p. 134). For example, mini-bars in each room, it was found that most guests were not happy costly prices. Hence, it was decided to create a complimentary mini-bar in each room.

The food provided in the hotel is unique, and it is a fusion between western and eastern products. As the restaurant is next door to the hotel, the management has not developed a separate one. Nonetheless, the hotel is offering a breakfast room, bar snacks, and room service.  The bar snacks have a variety of food available that is from Chinese dim sum to products from Europe and the Middle East, which is similar to the local foods.

The fact that the building was a Grade II listed warehouse that had been derelict for several years, the design and construction of the company was challenging (Arzak Basterrechea, 2018, p. 42). Roberta Fulklford, a Manchester-based architectural designer, was responsible for the design of the hotel and worked together with contractors to help in getting the hotel at the highest possible standards (SHAHNAEI, 2017, p. 51).

Considerations Concerning Future Operations/Strategic Alignments

Departments in the company should be integrated to assist in harmonising operations in the company. In the future, the company should consider using an online platform to do all its activities to avoid documentation problems. Hotel performance needs to be evaluated in terms of output, not an expenditure, because spending may not automatically lead to positive production. Additionally, all stakeholders should be identified to assist in knowing those that directly affect the organisation and those that affect it indirectly.

Financial Recovery Review

The Yang Sing Oriental hotel spent at least £ 1.8million to start the operation of the new hotel. Consequently, it should recover those finances by making profits. The company needs to get involved in making the big shots in the business. Operation costs should be at a manageable level, and administrative costs should not interfere with the output. Eventually, the company should find ways of increasing the profits every year to recover the finances used in improving the facility.

Solutions

The company needs to have customised risk management programs that ensure all customers and employees are secured, and no deficiencies are experienced (Arzak Basterrechea, 2018, p. 40). The strengths of these programs are reliable security systems and easily affordable. While weaknesses include high cost of maintenance and these programs are prone to attackers by hackers.

Explanation of Solutions

Risk management programs help in the mitigation and containment of risks, which result in reducing the likelihood of a risk occurrence. Inherently, the Yang Sing Oriental Hotel should create a constraint and risk management committee that would be responsible for dealing with constraints and risks as they occur.

Recommendations

Departments in the company should be integrated to assist in harmonising operations in the company. The company should consider using an online platform to do all its activities to avoid documentation problems such as online peer-to-peer platform markets. Hotel performance needs to be evaluated in terms of output, not an expenditure, because spending may not automatically lead to positive production. All stakeholders should be identified to assist in knowing those that directly affect the organisation and those that affect it indirectly.

Justified Ideas and Responses

The creation of an effective policy for communication concerning staffing, such as to request forms that employees can be used to shift-change or request for vacation. Intuitively, it works in the elimination of employees misunderstanding their managers for miscommunication, among them that lead to short staffing. For example, managers at the Yang Sing Oriental hotel allow all employees to communicate without fear or favour, provided they follow the rules and regulations of the organisation. The hotel finance department must find other ways of getting funds to facilitate the improvement of the hotel. Risks such as insecurity, health, and environmental risks in the Yang Sing Oriental hotel have been minimised because of proper risk management programs.

Conclusion

The objectives of this paper were accomplished. It demonstrated how strategic goals and objectives would be shared with the potential investors to adequately fund additional capital investment in the development of the facilities. Effective communications have been discussed and the importance of disclosure of loyalty among the customers through developing positive hotel experience to them. From stakeholder analysis, four processes were discussed, and the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders were explained.  Performance management is determined through dealing with information provided in the methodology employed by an organisation. Activities of the project were about the utilisation of human capital resources, company capital resources, and physical capital resources can be fundamental for the company to develop a strategy to be used in eliminating and reducing associated risks involved in the activities. The total costs of the whole project were calculated as £ 1,734,212, and the initial operation cost was estimated at £ 154,000. The primary constraint was budgetary limitations, although there was significant risk identified.

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