How can West Ham United hospitality improve its communication? Free Essay Example

The club was founded in 1895 as a company team of the Thames Ironworks. In 1900, the club became a limited liability company under the name of West Ham United, this proved to be vital for the progress of the club. In 1904, the club decided to move to its present ground in Upton Park. In 1992/93, the club was promoted to the FA Premier League, which is the top flight in English football and the best league in the world. The stadium has continuously been improved and at this moment the stadiums capacity is 30 000.

Plans have been accepted and construction of one of the two stands has commenced. Once the new stands have been completed in 2003, the capacity would have increased to 46 000 and Upton Park would be one of the best stadiums in England. The ground is situated in Upton Park, East London and in the heart of one of London’s ethnic minority communities. The Hospitality department at West Ham United is continuously improving.

The Stadium has approximately thirty bars, kiosks and suites in total.

This department is vital for the club as a whole and it plays a major part in the financial aspect of the club and also the attitude of the supporters as they provide a service to the supporters before and during the game. There are kiosks that provide fast food for the fans, and there are also suites and lounges that are for the more upper class customers which provide three course meals and other luxuries. PROBLEM I currently work part-time at West Ham United Football Club in the hospitality department and have found that there is poor communication, this is indicated by confusion amongst staff members.

At times many members of staff are doing nothing due to the lack of clear instructions. The staff are asked to come in on a match day at 12. 00pm and once preparations in the kiosk are completed staff do not know what to do, as clear instructions are not given by the supervisors. THE CURRENT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY The current communication strategy which is adopted by West Ham United Football Clubs Hospitality department is outlined in appendix 1.

Looking through it, it seems to me that the strategy for the employees higher up in the hierarchy is being followed, but for the kiosk assistants and the team leaders it isn’t. The strategy seems to be well thought of and well structured with everyone included. I have obtained an action plan sheet (appendix 2) from Debbie Laver, which shows that they are taking this communication strategy seriously higher up in the hierarchy. As I work there I can surely say that it isn’t being followed as far as the kiosk assistants and the team leaders are concerned.

Kiosk assistants are meant to be meeting with their team leaders as a group before each match and individually before each game, I have never experienced this, I have also asked other kiosk assistants and they don’t know anything about it either. Also all meetings must to be minuted, and I have never even seen a minute sheet before and I have been team leader for a lot of games. The (should be) current communication strategy looks as if it would be very effective and it would bring the best out of the workers.

All those who are not working to their full potential would be checked up on and there would be no room for slackness. The employees would probably find their jobs more interesting and this way they would get recognised for their hard work. The communication strategy which I was given does not show the methods of communication which are to be used in order to carry out the tasks which are to be performed. As I work there I am already aware of the methods of communication, which are being used to pass on the messages.

The use of memos to pass on information to all staff when they sign in at work at the beginning of the day is one method of commination that is used. The meetings that are held before every game are also a method of commination. This is used to pass on any messages, which will affect the work that will be done during the day. The Hospitality department also uses one to one conversations as a form of communication. An example of this is when an employee is being disciplined for some reason, he will have to go to see the kiosk manager with his supervisor.

If this communication strategy were stuck to then maybe overall performance for the department would improve. Obviously they haven’t devised it for no reason, maybe the director or manger should make sure that everyone is following this communication strategy. What the text book says Communication is essential to the achievement of organisational objectives. In an organisation the aim of communication is to influence others to work towards the achievement of the goals of the organisation.