Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Strategic Management
Module: Strategic Human Resource Management
Case Study
Based in central London the European Club was founded in 1990. The club is a non-profit making charity whose good works for the last 100 + years include offering scholarships for gifted children from poorer countries the opportunities to study in the UK. The Charity is governed by a Board of Trustees who also form part of the Board of Directors. The CEO sits on the Board of Directors whilst the General Manager and Club Secretary report into the CEO.
The vision and mission statement is represented as “High quality hospitability at affordable prices”. A statement of values has been an agenda item for almost a year but has not been actioned. Revenue for the charity is derived from the operation of the central London Clubhouse (situated in a fashionable street in Mayfair London WI) containing a very ‘dated’ and largely unused waiter service cocktail bar called The Fox and Hound, a 50 seat restaurant called The Dining Rooms, 4 function rooms (no in-built meeting room equipment) and 50 bedrooms which it hires to club members for a highly subsidized amount of just $75 per night. Many of these rooms have not been refurbished in quite a while.
The building itself has a certain faded grandeur but is in need of some much needed planned and reactive renovation and maintenance to furniture, fixtures and fittings. Some of the systems in the Clubhouse, including reservations and front office, are still on Excel spreadsheet functions. A manual process is used for creating reservations for the bedrooms, restaurant and bar and function rooms. There is however an online payment system used but there are three separate systems, one for each department. Wi-Fi is available throughout the Clubhouse.
Many of the staff have been there for many years and the way things operate have not changed for a long time. Whilst familiar and comfortable with the current ways of doing things, the staff often complain about the amount of time it takes and the inefficiency of the systems in place. There is a very defined hierarchy and staffing structure in the departments. The organization chart below details the restaurant, bar and event management department.
Board of Trustees Board of Director
General Manager Club Secretary
Bar & Restaurant Manager Functions & Events Manager Executive Chef Supervisor Supervisor Sous Chef
Bar Staff Events CO-Ordination Section Chefs Section Chefs Restaurant Staff Facilities Co-ordination Kitchen Porters
Technicians
Staff are not encouraged to make decisions without reference to the Head of Department nor are they encouraged to put forward new ideas for enhancing or improving practice. Any changes to practice are often from the top down and staff opinions are rarely sought.
Morale, as measured by a small yearly staff survey, appears low, and many of the younger staff leave after just a couple of months citing lack of opportunities and poor training as a cause. The survey also shows that staff are not happy with their manager and feel that they do not get praised or rewarded when they do a good job.
GET INSTANT EXPERT HELPThe previous CEO had been with the charity for some 30 years and very much left the management of the club to the General Manager, who also retires later this year. The new CEO of the charity believes that there is a lot more that might be achieved, and good works undertaken, if the operation itself makes more money to invest into the charitable works, and she firmly believes that the organization is underperforming and is inefficient. Membership of the club has been falling steadily over the past five years and now stands some 50% of its original membership. A secret member survey shows significant complaints about the conditions of the facilities, especially the restaurant and bar which the members use to entertain as well as the drop-in customer service as well as the general lack of organization.
The CEO has approached you and wants to employ your HR consultancy services to address the strategic HR issues around a modernization plan for the restaurant and bar facilities of the club.
The modernization and renovation programme will include the following:
- The refurbishment of The Fox and Hound Bar, the Dining Room and the function rooms
- Training and development of all staff on the new processes connected to the Bar, Dining Room and function rooms.
The refurbishment has been given to an architectural firm that will employ its contractors and manage all the building work. They have promised to work to the project deadlines. Naturally, this will mean the members of the club paying more for the services; however, this will bring the changes in line with similar institution and facilities.
The CEOs biggest concern is how to undertake this project with the minimum of disruption to both members and staff. It is not an option to shut the club down completely during the project. Business as usual, as much as possible, must be marinated.
TASK 1 OF 3-PRESENTATION AND BRIEFING REPORT INSTRUCTIONS
The CEO has asked you to prepare a 15-minute presentation and accompanying briefing report for the Board of Directors “selling” your consultancy services. You still need to pitch for the contract as the two other board members will be involved in the decision.
Prepare a presentation with speaker notes and a briefing report in which you should:
- Explain the importance of strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) and how you could add value to the You should discuss how strategic HRM could be linked with other departments.
- Explain the Strategic Human Resource Services you could prove to the Clubhouse and their
- Analyse the factors that the Clubhouse should consider before embarking on the renovation and restructure.
- Determine some preliminary HR requirements for the organization considering the new contract
Delivery and Submission
- 1x Presentation file (including references) with speaker notes (500 words)
- 1x Briefing Report (500 words) excluding TOC, diagrams, references and appendices
TASK 2 OF 3- HR PLAN AND MEMO INSTRUCTIONS
You have been successful in securing the contract, and you have a lot to do. The management propriety is to have a HR plan and policy in place as soon as possible.
You have decided to create the outline for a HR plan and include a memo about HR policy. You therefore need to prepare:
- An outline of a Human Resource plan
- A memo concerning the importance of HR policy-the memo should provide examples of regulatory, legal and ethical concerns that should be covered within the policy ie living wage vs minimum wage, maternity cover, Equality Act 2010, termination of employment ) which would be important to the Clubhouse.
Delivery and Submission
- 1x HR plan (1000 words) excluding TOC, diagrams, references and appendices
- 1x HR memo (500 words)
TASK 3 OF 3- REPORT INSTRUCTIONS:
Having done all of the preliminary work for the clubhouse, you should now write a report in which you should:
- Examine the impact of different management and leadership theories on organizational strategy and
- Describe the impact of organizational strategies, structures and culture on the management of
- Determine the effectiveness of the current Clubhouse HRM, and critically discuss the link between leadership & management and HRM
- Present an analysis of how the existing culture and structure of the clubhouse might impact on the success of the clubhouse project and the motivation of the
- Explain how you would develop, monitor and evaluate a leadership strategy that supports the development or revision of the clubhouse organization mission, vision, values and
Delivery and submission
- 1x Report (2000 words) excluding TOC, diagrams, references and appendices
Referencing
- Each section must reflect any supporting Harvard style citations
- A comprehensive Harvard style reference list must be included at the end of the
Evidences to be submitted
- Presentation file with speaker notes- 500 words
- Briefing Report – 500 words
- HR Plan-1000 Words
- HR Memo-500 Words
- Report -2000 Words
