Nature of Organization and Information Systems - Assignment Example

Nature of Organization and Information Systems Introduction Information Technology (IT) has recently evolved and has become a major part of everyday business. Aiming at increasing the level of guest satisfaction, the hotel industry has not been left behind in the adoption of the information technology. Historically, the hospitality industry as a whole has been accused of being shy of adopting and implementing IT changes. However, lately across all the industries, the IT has led to productiveness and efficiencies thereby reducing operational costs, increasing revenues and productivity especially in this once IT shy industry; the hospitality industry. This evaluation report on the Chicago based Hyatt hotel specifically deals in the nature of the organization and the information system used within the organization, explains the features of the PMS systems specifically used for guest cycle, yield/revenue, purchase cycle and quality management within Hyatt hotel and also how these support their routine business operations with very specific relevant examples, critically evaluates the effectiveness of information systems used within the organization. The discussion then based on this analysis provides an appropriate recommendation for improvement within various areas in the organization chief among them being the quality management department. This hotel has been chosen due to its notable history and steady rise to its present position in the hospitality industry and especially due to its adoption of it in its day-to-day business operations. Nature of Organization and Information Systems within the Organization Hyatt Corporation was founded in 1957 upon the purchase of Hyatt house in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. About 10 years later, the hotel opened up overseas outlets. However, this case study specifically deals with the information systems within the parent hotel in Los Angeles. This particular property has 2019 rooms and is the 7th in the world in the rank of the biggest non-gaming hotel. To add to the normal service accommodations provided by the hotel is the introduction of Hyatt place brands of goods and services all of which are based on top-notch customer service (Bellary, 2010). The hotel services are specifically designed in a way that guest in the facility can stay and pay less money that they would otherwise have paid in other hotels of the same level especially considering the business reputation that the hotel has been building since its foundation decades ago. To achieve this ability of being capable of charging less and providing world-class services, the hotel realized that it had to significantly cut down on their operational costs to be able to achieve this challenging value pricing equilibrium. The hotel is specifically designed to accommodate guests who are well versed with the use of the IT technology in numerous aspects of service delivery among other pro-active means of lowering business costs. The information systems installed in the organization specifically are geared towards customer independence and reduction of their overreliance of human staff. Hence, instead of the hotel management having a lot of staff going around collecting orders from guests, the guests are capable of communication directly with the accommodation or other relevant departments for services or goods that they need and thereby reducing the cost of maintaining a large size of staff. This significantly reduces that budget for staff salaries and other benefits. As already noted, one essential characteristic of IT in an organization is its ability to result in the reduction of costs if well utilized. Features of PMS Systems Specifically Used Hyatt hotel in Chicago may be said to be the parent organization to many other Hyatt hotels both within the US and outside the country. As the parent organization, the hotel is charged with the important task of allocating guest to other hotels of the same company scattered across the US, Europe and Asia. IT systems here come in handy in coordinating accommodations and guest services and goods among the all important task of property management task. Property management systems here accord the hotels from different segments and varying sizes property management solutions meant at the deliverance of stellar services to hotel guests. The centralization of data in regard to hosting of property management becomes very important because guests expect the same level of service similar to the one they get from the central Hyatt hotel. In line with this PMS software is at the same time being implemented and customized to the specific needs of the hospitality industry and the hotel in specifics so that front-desk clerks may offer the visiting guests a variety of choices especially in regard to style of rooms at the shortest convenient time possible (Bellary, 2010). Also the PMS ensures that amenities that the guests may want are availed as soon as possible especially considering that the hotel adopted the policy of reducing the human labor to reduce overhead costs by installing the information systems. Therefore, instead of people going around rooms asking what they may need and want, the guests can contact the front-desk clerks and request the service from there. The information system is also important in this era where global terrorism has become a business phenomenon. The management therefore uses its well connected system to get a profile of its guests prior to their arrival because other hotels in the industry have unintentionally in the past hosted terrorist groups to their detriment. Just like many other hoteliers in the industry, Hyatt hotel provides guests with free-to-guest services that include premium TV channels, and high speed internet access so as to stay competitive in this competitive industry. From these strategies, the hotel has over the years reached higher levels of guest satisfaction, potentially high ADR and increased occupancy. But no study can effectively tackle this chapter without effectively looking at the new emerging kiosk technology in the organization’s IT system. Although initially confined to other industries, the Kiosk technology has realized its deepest potential in the hotel industry and is highlighted in the Chicago Hyatt hotel. The check-in kiosks are capable of both processing the check out and check in and also within the shortest time possible dispense keys and print receipts. Hence the system itself with minimal human labor has the capacity of accepting and acknowledging payments from guests and in return dispenses a key card with the help of a back-end reservation system. The Information system has therefore been an important organizational tool in achievement of its goals by ensuring the efficiency of the workers and ultimately ensuring that the management enhances the experience of the guests in their consumption of their unique service and product brands. In a nutshell, the hospitality industry especially relies on the ability of each business identity to invent goods and services that guests can specifically identify with and increase their positive experience in that particular business. Hyatt has realized this important aspect of business and has hence customized the services and experience in the hotel with the help of IT and the PMS systems specifically used in the organization. Effectiveness of Information Systems Used Within the Organization By being typically in the hospitality industry where market condition play a very significant role in the behavior of restaurants and hotel, the information system become important in the need to increase business margins, offering a variety of better services and products that it competitors and reducing costs. The information system specifically has increased its competitive advantage over other hotels due to its customized services within the hotel facility as well as technology that is user friendly (Bellary, 2010). To keep this competitive edge and even become better, the organization through the convenience of the information systems available in the facility randomly checks out feedback from guest who has already checked out to measure the levels of customer satisfaction and experience and improve on those areas that are wanting. Over time, the organization has come to reduce its man power size without negatively affecting its service delivery. Across time, the organization knew that it was maintaining a large size of manpower although it had no idea how to minimize it without affecting its customers experience while its budget was suffering. With the installation of the information systems, the various departments became better connected and information could easily and timely be shared. With a centralized information system, a relatively small size of manpower was now realistic and this increased profitability within the organization at a crucial time when economic depressions have negatively affected the US economies and the populations have had less to spare and use in the hospitality industry. The layoffs have become common phenomena across all the industries but the truth is that many managers have had to do even more work with less manpower in majority of the organizations that have adopted the practice. Due to the overburdening of the workers, the overall delivery on the work has ended up hurting the organization especially depicted by the go-slows and the reduced quality of work. However, this has not been the case in the Hyatt hotel. This is because, the place of the human labor has come to be replaced by an effective and efficient information system that unlike the human labor force, it is less expensive to maintain. The overall cost effectiveness of the information system is better when compared to the human capital that existed before. Also, even while cutting down on human capital, the experience has remained the same and is still improving as depicted by the number of return customers. Therefore, the hotel has found a more convenient and cost effective way of utilizing human labor that increases the satisfaction level among the clientele. In most of the instances, the hotel has met and even surpassed its targets for the past moths. This is because, costs have be kept to the minimum while at the same time improving the quality of service in the organization all of which can be attributed to the information system adopted within the organization. The organization is still in the process of further reducing the operational costs while still customizing its services to reap maximum profits from the hospitality industry which like all other industries is recovering from the economic depression. Appropriate Recommendations The management should first continue at the same pace of introducing new systems to the organization but also halt on further downsizing of its staff. IT systems are known to collapse at crucial points when they are most needed. Or else, if the company has to continue the downsizing exercise, it should have a standby staff of sizeable size that they can contract at a short notice because a serious fault can result in the grounding of operations within the organization. With the level of reputation that the company has gathered over the last decades, the management should realize that they have a reputation to maintain that they cannot afford a slip that other small organization can afford without major financial and reputation consequences. Also, due to the way that IT is designed, there is always new improvement to the existing technology. To ensure that maximum benefits are reaped from these information systems, the organization needs to invest deeply in the training and retraining of staff. Over time, technology always advances and to realize the maximum benefits that come with each improvement, the staff in the organization needs to be frequently trained. Over the past few years, this has not often been emphasized. Advancement in technology for example leads to faster internet speeds that if effectively utilized may lead to further reduction in the operational costs within the organization. This study recommends that to achieve the said technological advantages and to turn them into new positive experiences for the guests, staff training need to be a priority to this organization. Reference List Bellary, V., (2010), A Case study on the effect of information technology related interface issues on overall guest experience in Hyatt Place hotels in the U.S., Retrieved May 14, 2012, from UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones: http://digitalcommons.library.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/429. Read More