Introduction

Senyucel (2009) establishes that motivation plays a pivotal role in any organization’s overall

performance which is influenced by several factors both internal and external. There is a need

for an organization to have the right staff with the right skill set so that it can achieve its

organizational goals. Managers should also understand the art of motivation. In this

discussion, an analysis of the case study of Halifax Hotels will be done where Paul

Stackhouse, the hotel manager who implemented a Total Quality Management (TQM)

strategy will be conducted. Ross (1995), and Barone (2023) establish that TQM is a

continuous process for identifying and minimizing or eliminating defects in production,

improving supply chain efficiency, improving customer satisfaction, and ensuring that staff

training requirements are followed.

The root problem of the Case

In the case of Cambridge Suites Hotel Halifax, Paul Stackhouse is the hotel manager. In the

general industry, there have been some shifts and turns in the market structure for the entire

hotel industry with demand patterns changing (Ross, 1995). Paul as the manager, realized that

this shift may result in the hotel losing its competitive advantage. He thought of applying a

strategic framework that focuses on total quality management to guarantee long-term success.

However, the challenge is to strike a balance between longer-term success and maintaining

short-term tangible outcomes for the hotel (Ross, 1995).

Fundamental Cause
Applying Total quality management would require the hotel to undertake proper staff

training, changing, and adapting to the new procedures and practices (Ross, 1995). There

would be also a need to have a quality measurement model. This is part of long-term success

but however, then this may jeopardize short-run service delivery and impact other short-term

objectives (Ross, 1995).

Possible Alternatives

TQM as a strategy; is aimed at ensuring the quality-of-service delivery and customer

satisfaction and it, therefore, requires org-wide effort and it is a continuous exercise. Paul

went for a pilot approach in which he chose specific areas to improve on, that is paper usage

reduction and energy reduction (Ross, 1995). This alternative allowed the hotel to test the

waters and would give other team members an understanding of the need for change as well

as staff will adapt easily as the intention become clearer. This will also not only motivate

staff, but they will take ownership of the initiative and be more productive.

Another alternative would have been a big-bang approach where he can push for applying the

strategy to all the functions of the hotel. The aim will be to ensure that all aspects are covered

in the implementation. This would have allowed the hotel to reduce annual costs in all aspects

rather than energy and paper usage. However, this is a riskier approach as there is a lot of

uncertainty associated with it (Total Quality Management (TQM): What Is TQM? | ASQ,

n.d.). Employees may feel overstretched, and this may quickly lead to demotivation and then

resistance.

In addition, on top of the phased approach that he implemented, there was a need to ensure

that there is an involvement of various customers. The alternative will see Paul develop and

identify some key customer groups where feedback is sought from each group Examples of

customer groups includes, employees, externals, customers, and volunteers among others.
This approach ensures that the right questions are asked and allows the hotel to learn

expectations through customer focus groups. Then Paul would then implement an

improvement plan.

Plan of action

I believe that the approach taken by Paul was not bad at all, but I would like to propose the

following plan of action. First things first, clarify the vision, mission, and values because

employees need to know that they are doing what is tied to the objectives of the organization

(Anuar et al, 2017). A situational analysis should be carried out, detailing the current position

and where the hotel intends to position itself in the future.

Secondly, there is a need to identify critical success factors such as customer satisfaction,

market share, process improvement, and financial performance, among others (Total Quality

Management (TQM): What Is TQM? | ASQ, n.d.). These will help everyone to be on board

and focus on achieving these goals.

Thirdly, there is a need to come up with metrics and measures for these critical success

factors. This will allow the hotel to ensure that at the end of the implementation period, they

will be able to tell how far they would have fared against their targets (Total Quality

Management (TQM): What Is TQM? | ASQ, n.d.).

In addition, key customer groups comprising employees, volunteers, customers, and suppliers

should be identified and surveyed to inform the implementation strategy (Sule, 2019). This

allows the hotel to avoid assumptions and meet the customer target as this target is not static

but moving.

Finally, there is a need to develop an improvement plan which follows the SMART criteria,

specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (Anuar et al, 2017). Once the

baseline has been determined, an improvement plan based on consumer feedback from each
category is necessary (Total Quality Management (TQM): What Is TQM? | ASQ, n.d.). There

is also a need to continue monitoring the critical success factors.

The importance and relevance of the case to the study of business

This case study has some relevance to the business fraternity in several ways. I emphasize the

need to have a clear vision and the power of motivated staff. We have seen employees, in this

case, showing that they had a feeling of a sense of belonging. The case demonstrates the

importance of involving everyone in times of transition as they will quickly buy in to the

visions. The case also shows the importance of having clear lines of communication and

effective feedback strategies. In a nutshell, it is important for senior management to have

proper HR skills to ensure that motivation and training needs are at the right levels.

References

Anuar, J.; Sumarjan, N.; Radzi, S. M. (2017). Total Quality Management (TQM) practices:
Challenges faced by hotel managers. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality & Culinary Arts
(JTHCA). [Link]

Barone, A. (2023). What Is Total Quality Management (TQM), and Why Is It Important?
Investopedia. [Link]

Total Quality Management (TQM): What is TQM? | ASQ. (n.d.).

Ross, G. (1995). Cambridge Suites Halifax. Acadia Institute of Case Studies. Acadia
University. [Link]
case_studies/[Link]

[Link]
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Sule, A. (May 17, 2019). Total Quality Management in Hospitality. Clean India Journal.
[Link]

Senyucel, Z. (2009). Managing human resource in the 21st century. [Link].