Communicating In Organizations: Le Meridien Hotel
WINTERS: Hi, again. You know, here at BizTV, they work us pretty hard, and
sometimes we just need to unwind, so it's always great when we get to combine
business and pleasure. As luck would have it, we were sent to Le Meridien,
one of Boston's best hotels, to find out the secret of their success. When I
talked to Bob, Le Meridien's general manager, he told me that effective
communications were critical.
Mr. BOB VAN DEN OORD (Resident Manager): It's so interesting that that's
your first question because communication, of course, everyone is talking
about. So many books have been written about it. The LEC Communication in
companies, LEC Communications in hotels as well. So we, of course, have done
a number of things in this hotel. We instigated a 9:30 meeting every morning,
seven days a week, where we discuss the events of the day. And the other
thing that we introduced was a briefing sheet. It's a small little sheet that
staff can pick up from the staff entrance, and there's a lot of information on
this. Basically it tells the staff of certain VIPs we have in the hotel,
certain groups, who is the manager on duty; are there special events that are
happening that day, do we have certain promotions in restaurants, people's
extensions. So really it gives them a snapshot of whatever is happening that
day in the hotel.
We have departmental meetings in the hotel, and the staff can raise concerns.
They can talk about certain issues. We also have a yearly staff meeting,
where we get all the staff together and the general manager and myself and
share with the staff the results of the year, plans for the next year and
really a bit of a team-building exercise with all the staff, all the employees
in the hotel. On top of that, we have interdepartmental meetings between
departments with focus groups, where they can talk about certain issues. We
have--we have an e-mail system that people can read, and everyone is on
computer in the hotel. Those are all the administrative staff. We have an
information channel on that, so there are a number of things that we've done
to really improve communication in the hotel.
WINTERS: Bob's role as a manger means that he has to master the full spectrum
of communications, from low channel to high channel richness. Well, all this
is a good start, but what if no one listens? Let's find out how Bob ensures
that his efforts pay off.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Well, of course, the one thing with communication is it is
a two-way thing. It's all nice and well providing information, but the other
party also will have to listen, and that's really the biggest obstacle we
have. We can give so much information to our employees, to our staff, to our
managers, but if it's not passed on and if they don't listen, that's where it
stops.
Listen, by the way, the--the unpaid leave...
Mr. MAX COMPAGNON (Food & Beverage Director): I ...(unintelligible) spoke to
Denae Ensai...
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Yeah.
Mr. COMPAGNON: ...and we agreed on days. We have not put them through.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: And I only have one day on that list and Denae has five.
Did you see that?
Mr. COMPAGNON: Yeah.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: You have two.
Mr. COMPAGNON: I have three. Three.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Three. OK.
Mr. COMPAGNON: We did it December 1st, which is weird, because Denae is down
for zero, but she took one two weeks ago that's not in there, that I signed
for. It's not in there. And I took one this week, and it's already in there.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: So I've already sent a note, of course, that, you know, we
need to sort this out, so...
Mr. COMPAGNON: Oh, me, too.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: I told the managers.
Mr. COMPAGNON: I--I sent a note to the personnel head...
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: It's a guess.
Mr. COMPAGNON: ...if we use it, those are two days.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: It's not an option.
Mr. COMPAGNON: We have six weeks. You know, get back to me by...
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Exactly, yeah.
Mr. COMPAGNON: ...December 15th and let me know what your plans are so I can
make sure it goes with the flow of the others.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: I did exactly the same. Yeah. All right. We have a
meeting in five minutes.
Mr. COMPAGNON: Yeah. Time to go.
Especially at 9:30, it's the operational meeting. All the managers will be
there. We use it as a common occasion to let--everyone in the hotel is aware
what's happening on that day. It's very casual. People have a cup of coffee.
We'll talk and--and basically talk about the business.
Unidentified Man #7: We've got five holiday parties tonight, so it's a little
tight through between 2 and 4. Other than that, everything went well. The
Christmas party pretty much was last night with New England Legal Fund.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: And we're all set for tomorrow evening, in terms of Julien
taking the furniture out, getting the kitchen carpeted and painted.
Unidentified Man #7: There's a timeline out, and it looks like it--it's fine.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Yeah?
Unidentified Man #7: Yeah. And staffing-wise we're all set, too.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: You are?
Unidentified Man #7: Yeah, which is amazing.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Good.
Unidentified Woman #10: We have Merlin Technologies having an all-day meeting
today in Lafitte and then a dinner in the Telbow tonight and an all-day
meeting tomorrow. And Plenco checks in tomorrow.
Unidentified Man #8: And for Sunday brunch, we should need to do 400 covers.
As of now we have 329 reservations. We're going to be in Julien, Governor's
and Cafe for that bunch.
Unidentified Man #9: ...(Unintelligible).
Unidentified Man #8: Thanks. That's it for me.
Unidentified Woman #11: Still working on the month end. I do need the
revised three-month today, so, Max, you're going to work on it for me, too.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: All right. So let's fill out these forms, and then have a
good day, everyone.
WINTERS: Whenever peers and co-workers are encouraged to exchange
information, it just makes interdepartmental problem-solving and coordination
that much easier. But remember, effective communications channels have to
remain open all day long.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: If you ask our staff what their number one concern is in
this hotel, they would say the lack of communication.
Mr. MICHIEL LUGT (Room Service Manager): We have so many various departments
within the hotel who are all reliant on each other to--to perform, and if
there's one performer or there's one department that actually doesn't
communicate well, then everybody else struggles.
For instance, in this restaurant here, we can seat probably 180 people, but if
the person that's actually selling this room doesn't know that, and sells it
for 400 people, then we have an issue. Where do you want to put the 400? On
top of each other? That's not possible.
So communication is absolutely key in our industry. It's very important that
we have--we're all of the same mind.
WINTERS: OK. So what Michiel's saying sounds pretty obvious, but in the real
world, it's often the smallest details that can lead to the biggest glitches.
Unidentified Man #10: I'm curious about Mass Bankers Association.
Unidentified Woman #12: You asked me about this last night?
Unidentified Woman #13: Do you know anything about that?
Unidentified Woman #12: Yeah, I talked with him last night about it.
Unidentified Woman #13: Because he asked me about it the end of the night,
what do I know about it?
Unidentified Woman #12: I talked to him about 4:00 and I said I'll have the
details to you tomorrow.
Unidentified Man #11: They have a meeting from 9 to 11. Is there any food on
that? I'm also missing UBS Warburg. That's the 300 people.
Unidentified Woman #12: OK.
Unidentified Man #11: I don't have any paperwork on that.
Unidentified Woman #12: I'll check with the sales manager on that one.
WINTERS: Bob is a champion of a style that he calls management by walkabout.
Well, that's what people usually call it, MBWA or management by wandering
around. But MBWA just suggests that if you're accessible, your employees will
be that much more willing to come to you when problems arise instead of hiding
behind e-mails, or worse, just plain hiding.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: You know, all the one-on-one with your people is good,
that constant feedback. It needs to happen on a day-to-day basis, on a weekly
basis, on a monthly basis.
You know these boards here?
Unidentified Woman #13: Yes.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: You know the guest of the week? And there's supposed to be
a spender of the week as well. Are we using that?
There are managers in the hotel that feel that they can communicate by e-mail
and that that's enough. I am very wary of that.
Mr. LUGT: People expect, `Ah, but you received your e-mail, didn't you?' And
I said, `Well, maybe I didn't receive my e-mail.' So that, you know, e-mail
facilitates a lot of communication processes, but it's not--it's not--you
know, it's not the--the solver of all the problems.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: And you will find that there are managers that have real
difficulty confronting certain issues, so what they do, they send an e-mail,
and they think that covers them, rather than going to that person and say,
`Hey, John, let's talk about this problem. What can we do about it?'
Morning, James. How are you?
Mr. JAMES ABAKA (Security Manager): Talking about Kevin.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Oh, really?
Mr. ABAKA: No call, no show at all. We called his home. So after the 11th
he's out. It--it's really tough.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: And...
Mr. ABAKA: But we--we'll find a way around it. I'd like to discuss it with
you a little further.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: OK. Well, we're meeting this afternoon then, are we?
Mr. ABAKA: Yes. OK.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: But I have to say, the one thing that works best for me is
really the management by walkabout.
I just want to have a quick walk around the building.
You're looking very smart.
Unidentified Man #12: I got so many smart suits, I don't know how I expect to
wear them.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Hey, you guys see the--the lines. How--how are we
going to get rid of that?
Hey, guys. How we doing?
Unidentified Man #13: Doing good. How are you?
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Yeah. It looks busy out there.
Unidentified Man #13: Always busy. Very busy.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: Good.
Unidentified Man #13: It's Christmas Eve.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: I haven't seen your Revere yet.
And it also gives the staff an opportunity to talk to me, and I think they
like it that I'm out there, that I'm present and that they can see that the
manager's not just sitting in his office, that he's actually on the floor with
the guests and--and with the staff.
Mr. LUGT: I mean, walking around, you can do and then do nothing, but it's
also being present. You should realize that your staff are always reliant on
our guidance and your leading by example. You know, you see that someone
needs coffee or needs orange juice or needs something, whatever it may be, and
then you just help out.
Mr. VAN DEN OORD: The bottom line is if we have happy staff, we're going to
have happy guests. If we have happy guests, our guests are going to come
back again, and we will meet our business objectives and our owners that are
based in Hong Kong will always be happy that we met the bottom line profit for
this property.
WINTERS: Through our stay at the Le Meridien, we were able to see some of the
different ways an organization communicates with itself and to the outside
world. Managers have to use communication to sell the organization's vision,
motivate the staff and create team spirit. Managers like Bob really know how
to use both formal and informal channels to get the job done. Well, I gotta
go. I'll catch you next time.
Hey, it's me. Yeah, we just wrapped. Yeah, where do you want to meet?
.JN
(Graphic on screen)
Video Case Questions
How important is nonverbal communication to
a hotel manager such as Bob or Michiel?
Why is feedback an important part of Bob's daily
process of management by walk about?
In the video, assistant general manager
Bob van den Oord has to work with another
manager to clear up a misunderstanding about
the staff's vacation schedule. Put yourself in
Bob's shoes and write a brief outline of how
you would communicate with the manager to
solve the problem.
.JY