IB Business Management SL 2.3 Leadership and Management Questions

Suchenlin has made her fortune from the success of her business, High-end Holidays (HH), which sells individually designed holidays to luxury destinations in Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands. Suchenlin no longer takes part in the day-to-day running of HH. Instead, she has an input into strategic decision making and she provides the inspiration for the business.

Su thinks it very important that she maintains a leadership role for both HH and AS. However, she empowers her managers at HH to make day-to-day decisions, including organizing resources, directing staff, coordinating, and taking tactical decisions. As well as empowering managers, Su thinks that it is important to empower employees and encourage teamwork by creating opportunities for employees to discuss working practice, quality issues and matters concerning employees. Su’s intention is to empower managers similarly at AS while retaining responsibility for strategic decisions. She believes that her managers are so well motivated and committed to their work that she feels little need to interfere. There is seldom conflict between managers, but when there is, Su will provide advice and guidance. Managers, both at HH and AS, say that they are inspired by Su and have a clear understanding of her mission and share it. As part of her leadership role, Su also enjoys some aspects of organizing, particularly when fundraising events for AS are needed and meetings have to be arranged with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). She usually represents the businesses at such meetings and conferences.

To help begin the project to make and sell solar power systems, Su appointed David, who, before asking to work on the AS project, worked in HH’s marketing department. He is an Afghan. She also appointed Salima, also an Afghan, who has experience with a large manufacturing business as a production director. Two more senior managers will be needed, and Su needs to decide between selecting experienced HH managers or promoting junior employees from within HH.

Martin and Susan had similarities: they were the same age, had similar university educations, and neither fitted perfectly well in Kenyan society. They had, however, an important difference: their leadership style. Susan, though efficient, hard-working and committed, was very task-oriented. She liked bureaucracy, formal accountability, and a clear chain of command. She had a scientific approach to decision-making. Her staff found her cold, official and impersonal. Martin, on the other hand, had a much more laissez-faire style. He believed in empowerment and delegation. Though he felt anxious when he saw there were minor problems that he knew he could fix quickly, he was always careful to let supervisors resolve problems. He was also warm, friendly and outgoing. Susan liked The Imperial very much; however, she still resented the fact that Martin had been appointed manager instead of her. As a result, she wanted others to think that GP had made a mistake in selecting Martin instead of her. She focused harder than ever on her job. She demanded more of the employees and was intolerant of even minor mistakes. The hotel, she was determined, should always be absolutely spotless and shining. However, as she became more demanding, the employees perceived her as too autocratic. They began to complain amongst themselves. The networks of informal communication amongst the employees enabled gossip and messages to move quickly through the hotel, such as stories and anecdotes of Susan acting overly autocratic. Fearing that the situation would soon become a major problem, Martin suggested that she should soften her leadership style. However, in every appraisal meeting, she resisted any discussion about how she managed staff. Martin did not want to dismiss her; he highly regarded her as a valuable member of staff, whose role in the Housekeeping Department was essential. A French travel journalist who had recently stayed at The Imperial had written an article praising the high quality of its housekeeping: “We reach here the top of the highest international standards”, he wrote, “in terms of benchmarking, The Imperial is très magnifique”. Martin fully appreciated the professional importance of Susan. However he believed that, professionally, she needed leadership training. In November 2013, a particular situation brought these tensions to the surface. One employee in the Housekeeping Department, Guthoni, was frequently calling in sick and did not come to work. Rather than enquiring about the reason, Susan dismissed Guthoni for repeated absenteeism. What Susan did not know is that Guthoni had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and required frequent medical treatment. Upon news of her dismissal, the other employees were outraged. They decided to go on strike in December, one of the busiest months of the year for The Imperial. When Martin heard of the planned strike, he was very worried. If it occurred in December, The Imperial would not be able to reach its annual target profits. He started negotiations with employee representatives. He realized that the collective action was giving the employees a sense of solidarity that they previously never displayed. He also noticed that many other frustrations were coming out into the open – and he ironically saw the threat of strike action as empowering for the employees. They seemed to be taking responsibility for the operations of the hotel to a far greater degree than before. Martin wanted to channel their frustrations toward constructive ends. He believed that The Imperial would emerge stronger from the conflict. He knew that he needed the full commitment and support of all the employees because big changes were on the horizon.

Equally important, he had to address the long-term external issues facing The Imperial because of changes in the external environment. Strategic decisions were necessary. He considered three options for The Imperial. Option 1: Make the case to GP that The Imperial needs to close for a whole year to allow for mass renovations in order to upgrade the hotel and reposition it to its former place as the premier hotel in Mombasa. Martin had recently travelled to Dubai and Muscat to see the most luxurious hotels in these regions. He understood that The Imperial had reached the decline phase of its product life cycle and needed rejuvenation. He believed that it was possible, although this would require substantial investment: • in the physical condition of the hotel almost to rebuild it entirely • in its marketing in order to relaunch it, maybe even with a new brand name. The new hotel would attract the same customer types, but the product would be much improved. It would also need an improved workforce to match its new vision. Martin sketched out two possible approaches for a Human Resources Strategic Plan (Appendix 3). Option 2: Change the nature of the hotel by transforming all the rooms into self-contained apartments with small kitchens. The target market for these apartments would be business travellers staying at least one week. The marketing audit had revealed that: • there is an increasing demand for such apartments • very few hotels in Mombasa offer such apartments • the market is still small • the market has high growth potential. The revenue from these apartments would almost match the revenue from the current hotel operations; it would be more stable, with fewer seasonal fluctuations; both fixed costs and variable costs for cleaning and maintenance would be much lower. The apartments would be serviced once a week, rather than daily. According to Martin’s workforce planning, this option could reduce the housekeeping staff by 70 %. Option 3: Form a strategic alliance with the famous safari tour company KenSafar. Together they would offer a two-week package tour. Customers would arrive in Mombasa, spend three nights at The Imperial, go on a seven-day safari tour, and then return to The Imperial for four more nights. This would allow tourists to go on a safari, first getting adjusted to the time zone and climate and later rest for four days before returning home. The owner and manager of KenSafar was Kamau Onyango, a spontaneous, dynamic and charismatic Kenyan who had many networks and contacts, and intuitively knew market trends, even without market research. Kamau insisted that if the strategic alliance were to go ahead The Imperial would have to: • make some improvements to the appearance of the hotel • pay Kensafar a 20 % commission for all hotel guests staying at The Imperial and booking through KenSafar • undertake a marketing audit.