Case Study

Based in central London the European Club was founded in 1900. The club is a non-
profit charity whose good works for the last 100+ years include offering scholarships for
gifted children from poorer countries the opportunities to study in the 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 The Club
Secretary reports to the CEO. The vision and mission statement is “High-quality
hospitality 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 W1) containing a very ‘dated’ and largely
unused waiter service cocktail bar called The Fox and Hound, a 50-seat restaurant
called The Dining Rooms, four function rooms (no in-built meeting room equipment),
and 50 bedrooms which hires 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 requires 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 creates reservations for the bedrooms,
restaurant bar, and function rooms. There is, however, an online paymentsystem used,
but there are three separate systems, one for each department. Wifi is available
throughout the ClubHouse.Many of the staff have been there for many years, and how
things operate has stayed the same for a long time. Whilst familiar and comfortable with
the current ways of doing things, the staff often complain about the time it takes and the
inefficiency of the systems in place. There is a very defined hierarchy and staffing
structure in the departments. The
organizational chart below details the restaurant, bar and event management
departments.

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 causes. The survey also shows that staff are unhappy with their manager
and feel they
need to get praised or rewarded when they do a good job. The 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 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 in the charitable works, and she firmly
believes that the organization is underperforming and inefficient. Membership of the
club has been falling steadily over the past five years and now stands some 50% of its
original membership. A recent 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 program will include the following:
1. The refurbishment of The Fox and Hound Bar, the Dining Room, and the function
rooms
2. 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 club members pay more for the services; however, this will
bring
the charges in line with similar institutions and facilities. The CEO's biggest concern is
how to undertake this project with the minimum disruption to members and staff. It is
only an option to shut the club down partially during the task. Business as usual, as
much as possible, must be maintained.

Having done all of the preliminary work for the ClubHouse, you should now write a
The report in which you should:
• Examine the impact of different management and leadership theories on
organizational strategy and structure.
• Describe the impact of organizational strategies, structures and culture on the
management of HR.
• 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 staff.
• Explain how you would develop, monitor and evaluate a leadership strategy that
supports developing or revising the ClubHouse organizational mission, vision,
values and objectives.