The current trend in housekeeping operations is to form teams to accomplish tasks rather than scheduling employees on an individual basis. The three important determinants of teamwork are leadership, the building of the right kind of groups or teams for better productivity, and membership (which reflects the individual contributions people will make towards team goals). A housekeeping team may consist of one supervisor, several (2-5) GRA's and one houseman. This team under the supervisor becomes totally responsible for a particular section of guestrooms in the hotel. Cleaning performance, say, is then measured on a team basis rather than on individual basis.
Team cleaning-an example of teamwork: In team cleaning, two or more GRA's together clean one guestroom at a time. Usually teams of two GRA's each are assigned to 30-35 rooms. Team members rotate duties of bedroom and bathroom cleaning. Team cleaning is successful when ideas come from the employees themselves and they are given a free hand in their implementation. Team cleaning works in hotels that are willing to make a change to meet new challenges. Promoting teamwork within each team requires special effort. A teamwork checklist should be followed by the executive housekeeper to make it a success.
Reward teamwork by praising the team and giving them choice assignments, raises, and promotions.
Include teamwork as a criterion during the employee’s performance appraisals.
Rotate special assignments, allowing everyone an opportunity to shine as an individual occasionally.
Consider ideas generated jointly by the team as well as individual ideas.
Share information and give the team a say in decision-making.
Give credit to the team for jobs well done.
Set an example of cooperation with others and yourself.
Advantages of teamwork: There are many advantages of teamwork. Some of these are as follows:
A principal advantage to the manager is in being able to schedule a group of people as though they were one entity.
Co-operation and workers morale will be higher when they are part of a small unit rather than solitary individuals in a large group of people.
Team spirit will cause the entire group to excel in operations. GRA's who excel in room cleaning help the poorer performers on the team to improve.
Absenteeism and tardiness get better resolved at the team level because one member being absent or late could have a negative effect on the entire team’s reputation.
With increasing concern for safety and security, assigning two or more GRA’s to clean a room could save expenses on liabilities and lawsuits.
Mundane cleaning tasks may become fun when performed as a team.
Fewer tools are needed-for example, one room attendant’s cart, one vacuum cleaner, and one hand caddy can equip a team of two.
Some heavier cleaning tasks are accomplished more easily and faster with two people-for example, moving beds, turning over heavy mattresses, making up a double bed, and so on.
Bringing new employees up to the required standards becomes easier since they have buddies to coach them along the way.
There is saving on labor costs since team workers complete work faster, have better attendance, meet with fewer accidents, and develop greater interest in improving the processes.
When planning for team cleaning, the executive housekeeper must address the following considerations:
Have linen and cleaning inventories equally distributed so that teams do not fight over supplies.
If a team must stop because it is faced with some hurdle, the work output of 2-3 people is stopped, as opposed to only one in the traditional method of guestroom cleaning. Hence the executive housekeeper should make sure that adequate supplies are available and teams are given an accurate list of room assignments.
Scheduling may require special effort to accommodate team members getting the same days off.
LEADERSHIP: For teamwork in housekeeping to be successful, the department leader, that is, the executive housekeeper needs to be an inspiring role model as a team player as well as an effective leader. The leader of any group can help to build its members into a well-knit team by sharing vision, goals, and strategies with them. Leadership is the capacity to frame plans that will succeed and the faculty to persuade others to carry them out in the face of difficulties. Leadership quality in a manager makes people look up to him/her for advice, feel motivated to work for and respect the manager, and be loyal to the manager. An executive housekeeper who can mobilise the trust and support of the staff achieves great heights. Some executive housekeepers who are good planners and organisers fail to achieve results because they are not effective as leaders. An executive housekeeper who is a good leader will ensure the following activities:
Draft a compelling vision
Communicate passionately
Get cooperation from others
Inspire and pull employees towards goals
Provide direction and momentum
Be assertive if necessary
Learn from other leaders
Make decisions in line with the vision
Get feedback
Command and not demand respect and loyalty
Do some self evaluation as well
Different leadership styles may be used by the executive housekeepers. Some distinctly make people work by force or order; others join the group and initiate activity; still others use persuasion; while some, by their pleasant and endearing manner, generate the enthusiasm for work and achieve goals in the best possible manner. An executive housekeeper who is an effective leader uses all these styles to different extents, according to the nature of the decisions to be made and as the situations demands.
Styles of leadership:
Autocratic: imposes own decision with/without explanation to subordinates
Participative: decision made after prior consultation with subordinates
Democratic: joint decision arrived at
Laissez faire: decisions taken by delegation
Most often, executive housekeepers tend to use the participative style and depend more on communication, adopting a supportive attitude and sharing needs, values, goals, and expectations with their staff. When employees, regardless of their level of education, are involved in decision making, they become highly contributively to successful decisions of major consequence. They are then not only committed to the outcome of these decisions, they are involved in the success or failures of such decisions are thereby motivated to continue their participation and personal growth. A self assessment needs to be carried out by executive housekeepers to find out which style of leadership they adopt as their principal one in actuality.