Case Study: Performance Standard

Charles and Nancy both apply for the assistant front-office manager position at a 300-room
upscale hotel. Charles has worked for a total of eight years in three different hotels and has
been with this hotel for three months as a front-office associate. Initially, he had a lot of
enthusiasm. Lately, however, he has been dressing a bit sloppily and his figures, cash and
reports have been inaccurate. In addition, he is occasionally rattled by demanding guests.

Nancy recently graduared from college with honors, with a degree in hospitality
management. While attending college, she worked part-time as a front desk associate at a
budget motel. Nancy does not have a lot of experience working in a hotel or in customer
service in general, but she is quite knowledgeable as a result of her studies and is eager to
begin her career.

It appears that Charles would be considered as prime candidate for the front-office manager
position because of his extensive experience in other hotels and his knowledge of the hotel's
culture. In view of his recent performance, however, the room division manager will need to
sit down with Charles to review his future career development track.

Questions to answer:

1. What are the qualifications for the job that should be considered by both applicants?

- Managerial role is a very important role which often times require years of
experience, and it should be top priority metric while considering the role. Even
though it is unfair for Nancy to have such metric pushed upon her, but it is not
possible for someone with a motel experience to run a 300-room upscale hotel.

2. How should the discussions between the rooms division manager and Charles be handled?
Please provide specific recommendations for the room division manager.

- There is a chance that Charles going through bad phase because something
undesirable happened in his personal life. Although, it should not interfere with
someone’s professional life, the room division manager should bring up Charles’s
recent dip in performance and try to pinpoint the root cause of it in a frank discussion.
When it is settled, he should bring up the managerial position conversation and what
would mean to him if he were to be the to be selected.

3. Who would be the better person for the job? Why?

- Charles would be better for the industry because he has been doing this for 8 years
and he would not last this long in the industry if his dip in performance was a regular
phenomenon. Also, he showed promise at the beginning and later went through a
rough patch which is due to something that happened in his personal life and giving
him the promotion would be perfect way to get him motivated again.