Overview of the hospitality industry in the UK
Ethical Issues-
The aim of this report is to explore the ethical issues that occurred in Haytor Hotel of UK and their consequences. All industry has their own set of ethical issues, consisting the hotel industry. The hospitality businesses might not often seem unethical, but they have occasionally verified themselves to be less than hospitable. The overall workers in the hospitality sector accounts for 2,302,000 in the United Kingdom according to the SIC definition. The extensive consideration of the hospitality sector increases the employment within the industry to around 3,203,000. This is a share of around 9.3% of the total employment in the UK (López-Andreu, Papadopolous and Hamedani, 2019). This data has made the overall hospitality sector as the fourth biggest employer in the UK in the year 2016. There are a huge number of employees who work within the hospitality sector and they come from different culture, backgrounds, have diverse beliefs and more which makes them different from one another (López-Andreu, Papadopolous and Hamedani, 2019). However, the common ethical issues that occurred within the hotel industry can be overcome. This will help the industry to attract more guests and with result in increase of Customer Loyalty, Popularity and profits. There are several types of ethical issues that occur within the hotel industry but this assignment will focus on employee theft as an ethics issue occurred in Haytor Hotel. Employee theft is a particular ethics issue that occur nearly in every industry. However, there are two types of employee theft within the hotel industry; the first one is where employees steal money and supplies. For example, the employees can steal sheets, pillow, cleaning supplies and more. They might even say that the guests stole some of the belongings of hotel. In relation to the stealing of money, they might add additional charges to the bills but pocket these fake charges (Goh and Kong 2018). The second type of theft is related to customer loyalty. The employees might steal the belonging of guests while cleaning their rooms which could be clothing, jewellery, electronics, cash or more (Khan, Khan and Bodla 2021). Sometimes the guests do not realise that anything is missing until they get back home, but the others realise it swiftly and it can hurt the status of the entire hotel. As a hotel manager, it is very important to focus on these issues because it can severely impact the reputation and image of the hotel. If the customers get angry and irritated, then they will post reviews about the hotel on the internet which will make the other people know about the fact and people will stop visiting the hotel.
Employee theft negatively affects the overall society on several economic and social levels. This results in increased prices and security in the business. The taxes might also increase for everyone in the company. In addition to this, there is also an added burden on the police and courts, and the people within the society become fearful, distrustful and isolated as there is a rise in the local crime scene (Teng and Cheng 2021). As the Haytor Hotel dealt with the threat of stealing from employee, they lost a significant amount of revenue to the crime, which forced the company to increase their prices so that the losses can be set off. The company implemented security cameras, metal detectors and guards in order reduce the theft. Due to the theft, there was a loss in tax revenue which meant that the tax was higher for everyone. Also, the morale among customer and employees were impacted negatively due to the enduring shoplifting issue. The people were suspected unfairly to be thieves on the basis of their race, appearance or on age (Dimitriou and Ducette 2018). This particular issue persisted in the business and the society as a whole. These types of issues can drive the value oof property down and the neighbourhood where the business is operating gained the reputation for high crime scenes. In addition to this, there was an atmosphere of fear that affected the relationships among families, neighbours and it became more isolated (Nwokorie and Igbojekwe 2020). According to Edward Freeman’s stakeholder theory, the stakeholder of the company includes he ones who are affected by the company and its operations (Jahn and Brühl 2018). However, this particular theory is on the obstruction to the long- held shareholder theory which was proposed by Milton Friedman in capitalism, which states that the stakeholders about whom the company should care about the most are its shareholders and therefore the bottom line (Jahn and Brühl 2018). According to Friedman, the view is that, the companies are compelled in order to make a profit, so that the customers can be satisfied and continue to gain a positive growth for the long term.
Types of ethical issues that occur within the hotel industry
It is also important to identify stakeholders because this type of issue has not only impacted the reputation of the company but has also affected the stakeholders who are involved in the business. The five important stakeholders of the company are owners, government, employees, customers and international hotel operators. The owner of the company gets affected by the employee theft as the overall reputation of the company gets hampered due to which they face a huge loss and are unable to pay wages to their employees. If there is an occurrence of employee theft within the company, then the police and court get involved and due to this the government also gets involved as it affects economy. The employees get affected by such a behaviour if it is happening within the company because it makes demotivated. If a single employee has performed such a crime and they are not found out, then the hotel will put allegations on the others employees as well which makes them demotivated and insulted (Sarwar and Muhammad 2020). This makes the overall culture of the workplace bad and encourages the other employees to do the same. On the other hand, the customers are the ones who are impacted the most, because the involvement of police and court leads to the intervention of media, and as the media gets involved the hotel reputation is destroyed. Due to this, the customers will not have a preference to stay at the hotel knowing that the hotel has a bad reputation and their belongings might get stolen by one of the employees. In addition to this, the international hotel operators or agencies remove the listing of that particular hotel to save their reputation (Chahal and Poonam 2017). Overall, everything will hamper the overall reputation of the hotel and resuming their business operation might become very difficult for them in the future.
There are both good and bad ethics within the hotels and some of the examples of both the category are stated below.
Good Ethics- Wyndham Hotels and Resorts are one among the top hotel companies that practises good ethics principles with a diverse range of businesses lines which includes hotels and vacation ownership resorts. The company practise ethics through which they create a great experience for their guests and associates. Therefore, the company has maintained their reputation within the hospitality industry and keeps on attracting and retaining their customers for a longer period of time.
Bad Ethics- An employee has started working in the Top Sun Hotel and Resort and as she was a trainee, she had to be with one of the older employees who tells her about the bad ethics practises that she does. The older employee says that she sneaks food and makes drink for herself, and another employee in the housekeeping has taken forgotten items of the customers after the guests has left. This a huge example of the bad ethic practises that the employees within the hotel are practising. In addition to this, they are even encouraging the new joinee to do the same by saying such things.
Impact of employee theft on customers, employees, and society
The theft on hotel industry is quite common, sometimes the guests steal amenities from their hotel rooms or the employees sneak out the valuable items of guests during their absence. It is important for the company to deal with the issues that has arise within the company with the help of implementing the policies and taking initiatives. In order to reduce theft of guests, when the guests leave the room, a housekeeping staff must check their room and if anything is missing, then they must ask the guest to check their luggage if they have taken it mistakenly. It is also important for the company to not charge the guests directly rather they must ask them in a polite manner (Nain 2018). On the other hand, to reduce employee theft, it is important for the company to ensure that their rooms are cleaned when the guests are present in their rooms. The company must also use technology such as CCTV cameras in the appropriate places such as reception, lobby, kitchen, staff’s room and more. Additionally, the staffs must be checked before they leave the hotel premises after their work. This will reduce the theft and due to the presence of CCTV, they will be scared to perform such crime.
Reference List
Chahal, H.S. and Poonam, A., 2017. Study of organizational culture, employee turnover and employees’ retention in hospitality sector. Pacific Business Review International, 9(11), pp.119-125.
Dimitriou, C.K. and Ducette, J.P., 2018. An analysis of the key determinants of hotel employees’ ethical behavior. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 34, pp.66-74
Goh, E. and Kong, S., 2018. Theft in the hotel workplace: Exploring frontline employees’ perceptions towards hotel employee theft. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 18(4), pp.442-455.
Khan, A.N., Khan, N.A. and Bodla, A.A., 2021. The after-shock effects of high-performers turnover in hotel industry: a multi-level study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Nain, A., 2018. A study on major challenges faced by hotel industry globally. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 6(1), pp.561-71.
Nwokorie, E.C. and Igbojekwe, P., 2020. Security challenges for the hotel industry: Implications for selected hotels in Owerri, Nigeria. Academica Turistica-Tourism and Innovation Journal, 12(2).
Sarwar, A. and Muhammad, L., 2020. Impact of employee perceptions of mistreatment on organizational performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Teng, C.C. and Cheng, S.S., 2021. Hospitality ethics: Perspectives from Hotel practitioners and intern students. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 33(2), pp.99-110.
López-Andreu, M., Papadopolous, O. and Hamedani, M., 2019. How Has The Uk Hotelssector Been Affected By Thefissuring Of The Worker– Employer Relationship In The Last 10 Years?. [online] Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/814594/UK_Hotels_Sector_Director_of_labour_market_enforcement_July_2019.pdf [Accessed 24 December 2021].
Jahn, J. and Brühl, R., 2018. How Friedman’s view on individual freedom relates to stakeholder theory and social contract theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 153(1), pp.41-52.
Utilitarian Ethics Theory- Utilitarianism view or theory is about how the person should evaluate a wide range of things that includes the choice that the people face. Among the things, the factors that can be evaluated our laws, actions, character traits, policies and moral codes (Scarre 2020). Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism as the theory rests on the idea that it is the particular consequence or results of an action, policies, laws or more which determines whether they are bad or good, right or wrong. In a general manner, the thing which is being evaluated, the person chooses the one that will offer the best of overall results (Fok, Payne and Corey 2016). In the context of utilitarian, an individual should choose the option which maximise his utility that is the policy or action which produces the largest amount of good. The theory of utilitarianism states that it includes only one evaluative principle which is to produce the best consequences. The application of utilitarian ethics theory is to make a decision which is based on what will be the benefit of majority.
Stakeholders affected by employee theft within the hotel industry
The advantages include the happiness of society and as the decision is made on the basis of majority the people tend to feel happier when the decision is made according to them. In addition to this it even teaches a lesson that harming the other people is wrong and put emphasis on the definition of ethics and morality which comes from a perspective of community in instead of a individual outlook. The theory of utilitarianism is an easy theory which can be implemented easily within the company and the company only needs to make this theory work by getting a majority of group and then they can work to control what the positive and negative possessions of each of the choice would be (Shaw 2016). This particular decision- making procedure is something that is done from the first days of childhood and by integrating it into a group theory is a natural step to do. On the other hand, the disadvantages of this ethics theory are that the decision makers are required to select the item outcome of their choice. It has a minority and benefits the majority which does not build an equally beneficial relationship. In addition to this it is not often conceivable to forecast the outcome of the decision which has been made.
From the context of the company, with the help of implementing utilitarianism theory of ethics, the company will be able to come to a decision making which will be in the support of the overall company rather than a single employee who has performed a serious crime like employee theft. In addition to this, this will even help the company to come to a conclusion and implement policies so that such circumstances do not happen in the future.
Virtue Ethics Theory- Virtue ethics theory is also known as character- based theory which states that a right act is the action that a righteous person would do in a particular situation (Statman 2019). The virtue ethics theory is person based rather than achievement based and it looks at the moral character or virtue of the individual who is carrying out an action rather than at the ethical rules and duties or the significances of a specific action (Van Zyl 2018). The virtue ethics does not only deal with the wrongness all right Ness of the action of an individual, rather it offers a guidance as to salt of the characteristics and behaviour that a good person will seek to accomplish. In that way, the virtue ethics is worried with the whole of an individual’s life rather than their specific episodes or actions that they have conducted.
The advantages of virtue ethics include motivation to the employees to work on morality, it maps onto the moral reasoning and it does not realise and theory rather it focuses on the individual and build the other people in a better way so that a more focus is put on individuality and development of moral reasoning within them (Hursthouse and Pettigrove 2017). On the other hand, the disadvantages of this theory includes that no single or definitive answer is there about what the virtues are as they are time changing. There is no single or definitive answer for the situation as What should be done during a moral dilemma. It is even hard to tell what the individual’s motives are when they behave unethically.
Good ethics within hotels
From the perspective of the organisation, with the help of virtue ethics theory, the company can evaluate the individual and their behaviour along with keeping a focus on their past. With the help of this theory the company will be able to understand about the employee’s perspective, though Employee theft is wrong and a part of crime which is done in the hotel. However, the employee will be observed and the reason behind this unethical behaviour will be analysed in order to understand the individual and their reasons due to which they did the action. Therefore, it is recommended that the company should make a proper use of both the theories of utilitarian ethics and virtue ethics with the help of which they will be able to make a decision in the support of majority of the people or overall company, and will even understand the perspective of the individual who has committed the crime as well as develop policies through which the same should not be repeated in the future.
Reference List
Fok, L.Y., Payne, D.M. and Corey, C.M., 2016. Cultural values, utilitarian orientation, and ethical decision making: A comparison of US and Puerto Rican professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(2), pp.263-279.
Hursthouse, R. and Pettigrove, G., 2017. Virtue ethics (pp. 457-470). London: Routledge.
Scarre, G., 2020. Utilitarianism. Routledge.
Shaw, W.H., 2016. Utilitarianism and the Ethics of War. Routledge.
Statman, S.D., 2019. Virtue ethics: A critical reader. Edinburgh University Press.
Van Zyl, L., 2018. Virtue ethics: A contemporary introduction. Routledge.
Ethical leadership is referred as the leadership which establishes and endorses normatively suitable conduct with the help of personal relations and individual actions. In other words, ethical leadership means to put people into management and leadership situations who will encourage and be an example of an appropriate and ethical conduct with the help of their actions as well as relationship within the workplace (Huang and Paterson 2017). From the context of business world, ethics are said to be increasingly important element along with the point of discussion. Therefore, leadership with ethics is very significant to comprehend, progress as well as recognise within the business world. Leadership that is ethical is significant for several reasons, for the clients, staffs as well as the company overall (Bedi, Alpaslan and Green 2016). The leadership skills are very important to create a positive ethical culture within the business and these leaders can also help the investors to feel that the company is trustworthy and a good one. In addition to this, the customers are also expected to feel loyal when these leaders are ethical and in the place within the organisation. A good press is also likely to come when there are ethical leaders within the company, the associates and wholesalers will also feel that they can trust and work well with the company when an ethical leadership is displayed (Shapiro and Stefkovich 2016). There is not a single way to lead ethically, though, there are several common fundamentals which are present between the ethical leaders.
A well-known reputation and the belief of stakeholders are two of the most significant assets of an organisation. The business can defend the reputation and growth the employee engagement by developing a workplace where ethical conduct is the norm and followed by each employee. In order to maintain integrity and compliance within an unethical company, several initiatives can be taken. It is important for the company to decently assess their needs and resources. The successful businesses start with a good plan and so does the successful ethics and compliance programmes (Ko et al. 2018). To develop a meaningful and relevant plan, the business should know the layout of land and also it is significant to know about the ethical challenges which are most common in the workplace, the greatest remix, the values which are important for the company and its staffs, the values required for the company and their work, the resources of ethics and compliance which will be most beneficial for the employees and more (Leicht-Deobald et al. 2019). In addition to this, the company should also create a strong foundation by putting in place the resources to discourse them by creating a strong ethics and compliance program.
According to me, ethics is a rational understanding between right and wrong which sets out what the people should do and not do, whether it will be in virtues, fairness, rights or responsibilities. I feel that it is very important to constantly inspect our morals in order to ensure that they are reasonable. Also, ethics should have a continuous effort within our personal moral beliefs in order to make us better person all around. After researching about the theory of ethical principles, ethical leadership management and more, I understood that ethics is very important in the context of present business scenario. I do not think that without ethics the company can succeed for a long period of time because there will be lack of communication, policies, customer satisfaction and more. From my personal experience, I have observed that when I visited to a nearby supermarket the employees were not helping us properly to find out the products. They were even not providing us the details of the products and they were behaving as if they were irritated to help us. By observing such a behaviour, I along with my friends decided to go to another store to purchase the product as we were unable to find the product and the employees were also very unhelpful. This particular behaviour shows that the company has lack of ethics and principles and the employees were not provided with the proper training of customer satisfaction or customer service. On the other hand, when we went to another store, the employees greeted us positively and help us to find the product. However, we did not find the actual product that we were looking for but we took a similar one only because of the behaviour of employees. According to the utilitarianism theory oof ethics, we should do what is right in the particular situation or whatever will be the best taking into interest of all the concerned parties. By using this theory, we did what we felt was right in the situation when we visited the first supermarket, and as we did not get any type of assistance, we thought that the best thing was to go to another supermarket where we would get an assistance from the employees, which we got.
Conclusion
Lastly from the above discussion, it can be concluded that ethics is the most significant aspect of any corporation operating in nay industry. With the help of an appropriate ethics policy, the company will be able to operate in a successful manner for a longer period of time. However, if the company does not follow a proper ethics policy, then they will have to face severe consequences from various stakeholders which can impact the overall reputation and image of the company.
Reference List
Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C.M. and Green, S., 2016. A meta-analytic review of ethical leadership outcomes and moderators. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3), pp.517-536.
Huang, L. and Paterson, T.A., 2017. Group ethical voice: Influence of ethical leadership and impact on ethical performance. Journal of management, 43(4), pp.1157-1184.
Ko, C., Ma, J., Bartnik, R., Haney, M.H. and Kang, M., 2018. Ethical leadership: An integrative review and future research agenda. Ethics & Behavior, 28(2), pp.104-132.
Leicht-Deobald, U., Busch, T., Schank, C., Weibel, A., Schafheitle, S., Wildhaber, I. and Kasper, G., 2019. The challenges of algorithm-based HR decision-making for personal integrity. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(2), pp.377-392.
Shapiro, J.P. and Stefkovich, J.A., 2016. Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
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