Great Deal! Get Instant $10 FREE in Account on First Order + 10% Cashback on Every Order Order Now

Case Study: The Blue Marina Restaurant: Managing Change in Difficult Times The Blue Marina is an Italian, family-owned restaurant located on the ground floor of a shopping mall in the center of a...

1 answer below »

Case Study: The Blue Marina Restaurant: Managing Change in Difficult Times
The Blue Marina is an Italian, family-owned restaurant located on the ground floor of a shopping mall in the center of a major city. It attracts, primarily because of its ease of access, a steady flow of customers and prides itself on offering a no-fuss menu, which includes a good range of affordable yet delicious Italian dishes – from starters and appetizers, through main courses and specials to pastries and desserts. While the Blue Marina seats around 100 customers, its layout is fairly basic and has a ‘fast-food’ feel to it. A major concern for management has always been to maximise efficiency and reduce turnaround times: orders must be swiftly relayed to the kitchen and the food brought to the table within 15 minutes, even during ‘peak hours’ – the intended outcomes being consistency in both customer service and daily sales targets.   
The Blue Marina employs 40 people, 50% of whom have permanent contracts, working either day or evening shifts. The other half is split between part-timers and relief workers who are usually the ones to do double shifts over busy weekends. All terms and conditions of employment are negotiated on an individual basis.   
Over the past few months staff have found it increasingly hard to maintain the desired levels of customer service. There seems to be a lack of coordination between waiting and kitchen staff.  Once seated, customers often have to wait for as long as one and a half hours before being served while a large number of those queuing up outside usually just give up on the long waits and walk away in search of other eating options. More alarmingly, profit margins have remained ‘thin’ in the recent years and, for the first time in a generation, losses were registered on the restaurant’s balance sheet. Blue Marina’s current manager attributes this particularly poor performance to the economic crisis and to the fact that the competition has all of a sudden tightened up with the opening of a pub and two new restaurants within the shopping mall and a growing cluster of similar businesses within a mile radius.  
Dispirited, the current manager has decided to step down to make way for his son, Marcello, who has just completed his Masters in Business Administration. Marcello’s remit is to deliver a new business strategy that can effectively reverse Blue Marina’s misfortunes and ensure its survival and growth in the longer term. Whilst recognizing that these are indeed difficult times, Marcello believes that there is need, more than ever, for businesses to ‘live by their wits’ and demonstrate an ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ if they are to have any chance of success. He has therefore formulated a proactive and quite aggressive change strategy containing the following key components, which are to come on stream almost at the same time:  
The Blue Marina is to be turned into a chain restaurant. A total of £1.5 million is to be spent on the refurbishment of the existing site and on the set up of two new restaurants in different shopping malls – one located near the harbour and the other 5 miles away in the north of the city.  
 The chain restaurant will differentiate its offerings in the form of a revamped menu, a sumptuous décor and a new bar area, for which a select clientele would be more than willing to pay a premium.   
 Around 60 new employees are to be recruited and deployed across the three restaurants. While all members of staff will have to attend induction training to meet the new standards of service, some of the more experienced staff will be transferred to the newly opened restaurants to help out with on-the-job training for new recruits.  
 A new information system will be set up to link up The Blue Marina with its suppliers and standardize ordering, payment and accounting processes across restaurants. Also, a multimedia website will enable customers to access menus, make reservations, post feedback, download discount vouchers, benefit from promotional events or simply keep abreast of any development at the Blue Marina.  
 The Blue Marina will seek opportunities for joint promotional alliances with potential partners especially those operating in the same shopping malls – a cinema complex and various retailers having already signaled their interest.   
 Finally, the Blue marina will demonstrate social responsibility by sponsoring community projects, which can contribute to the development of a strong brand image and a selfreinforcing cycle of social value, employee engagement, customer loyalty and enhanced return on investment.   
All the owners of the Blue Marina think that Marcello’s business strategy is very creative and quite enticing since it holds the promise of bringing profit margins to 15% within 5 years. However, some have expressed their concerns with regards to the considerable capital outlay that Marcello’s new strategy will require, which, if unsuccessful, will leave the whole business in tatters. To allay these concerns, Marcello’s father has asked him to hire the services of a consultant to help him out with the execution of his new business strategy.   
Coursework Assignment  
You are required to step into the shoes of the consultant hired by The Blue Marina. Your first task is to write a report addressing the key change issues that can have a significant impact on the implementation of its new business strategy. While practically oriented, your report should draw on appropriate change theories and models to include the following:  
1. An analysis of the change context taking into account both the internal and external drivers for change (200 words). This should include both a PEST and SWOT analysis (please note that the word count contained within these tables will not be included in the overall word count, so please be as detailed as necessary).  
2. An analysis of the nature of change facing the Blue Marina (200 words).  
3. A critical examination of the possible types of employee reactions to the proposed change (500 words).  
4. Recommendations as to how management should plan and execute the proposed change so as to ensure its successful implementation (700 words).  



Answered Same Day Oct 07, 2019

Solution

Perla answered on Mar 20 2020
130 Votes
Managing Change
Running Header: Managing Change
Title: Managing Change
Presented By:
Presented To:
Date: 20/08/2018
Introduction:
The Blue Marina Restaurant is the focus of discussion in the cu
ent report. The restaurant is undergoing a change of leadership and in the same context, certain operational and functional changes are proposed for the organization. A comprehensive review of the proposed changes to the organization, discussion on the appropriateness of implementation of these changes as well a discussion on the justification as well as change management plan is proposed in the following part of the report. #
Overview of the Restaurant and information presented:
The restaurant is an Italian restaurant and it is basically family owned. Location is quite accessible and hence it attracts well the customers from all over all the parts of the city. A diverse range of cuisine is available in the restaurant and also the cuisine is quite delicious. Management of the organization is highly concerned with the quality of the service as well as on the sales targets. In this connection, the new leadership of the organization wants to change the profile of operations of the Blue Marina by changing it into a chain of restaurants also the operations of the organization are expected to undergo a radical change in the
eadth and width. New services and the new features are expected along with renovation, new recruitment, new facilities and training. Altogether about 15 million pounds of investment is expected to be made in the organization. In this connection, in the position of a consultant a detailed evaluation and opinion report is presented along with the possible operational change management plan considering all the possible consequences and the bottlenecks in the due course of change management. A comprehensive evaluation of change management plan is presented in the report.
SWOT and PESTLE Analysis
Blue Marina is blessed with strong points of better location, well established track record, better customer loyalty and
and image. Also there is sufficient support from the organizational management in terms of funding and support for changing the operational model. It is blessed with opportunities to grow as well do have chances to eliminate the cu
ent weaknesses of delay in service delivery and quality. Coming to the political, social and legal factors there are no issue as of now for the organizational expansion and service change initiatives. However still there is need for the organization to focus in the technical aspects for improving further its profile of service. Complete details of SWOT and PESTLE provided in the table 1. Considering all these aspect, it is a timely decision for the organization to proceed for a change.
· Change context:
Blue Marina restaurant is undergoing a change process and new financial investment in the restaurant is
inging a myriad of changes in the operational profile and
eadth of the services in offers. More specifically the restaurant is going to get shaped as a chain of restaurants as well the services in offer in the organization are going to get augmented. Also, web based service delivery upgrading the existing services in the organization are some of the issues that are of major concerns and expectations in the organization.
The new change is proposed to mitigate the gap in the customer service and the actual service needs of the organization, also specific matters like improving the customer satisfaction needs change in the organizational operational profile, typically inclusion of online web-based resource availability and making more well-trained staff availability, deploying new recruitees, training and development of the human resources all become part of the change in the cu
ent scenario. The major concerns of the change management are to enhance the customer satisfaction, improve the facilities available at present in the organization, to lead the competition as well to increase the sales and the revenues. The change proposal will consider all these propositions in entirety in the cu
ent context.
· Nature of the change:
The proposed change in the organization is a multi-dimensional change. It is a change in the organization from several perspectives. A change in the organizational profile making enhancements in the structure and the operational service levels in quality and quantity. Also, there are changes in the human resources in the organization, typically there going to have changes in the number as well as in the skills of the manpower. Further, there are also going to have changes in the organizational service domains. Improvement in the menu, décor and bar provisions all going to reshape the service profile of the organization.
Organizational ownership changes like proposals for mergers and acquisitions also make up the part of the change plan. Further, the new changed operational plan of the organization is going to take up social responsibility as a major initiative. Apart from that customer loyalty and
and images are some of the major concerns that are going to reshape the overall operational profile of the organization at present.
· Possible Employee Reactions:
Though the change proposed in the organization is done, with all the weight age and concerns given with due consideration to the value that the change is going to impart to the organization. Apart from the value addition there in the pipeline, the organizational change proposed is expected to draw resistance from different layers of the organization. In accordance with the new change plan, the operational efficiency levels expected from the employees is going to be quite higher. There will be demand for new skills and new talents....
SOLUTION.PDF

Answer To This Question Is Available To Download

Related Questions & Answers

More Questions »

Submit New Assignment

Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here