Running head: CASE STUDY OF THE BOX TREE 1

Case Study of the Box Tree

Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Case Study of the Box Tree:

Operating System(s) included in this Case Study:

The box tree used an operation system that appeared in the market in the 1980s. The

property management system, usually referred to as the PMS has been applied in the hotel

industry to help in the management.. The system was automated to carry out operations such as

hotel booking, online reservations, charge posting, account receivable, events, food and beverage

costing, HR and payrolls, quality management and other services. Baruch was employed by

Augustine Paege, the owner of the establishment to be the comptroller of the system. He acted as

an agent to keep checks and balances of the hotel operation.

Overall Kudos:

For many years, Box tree has served the gentry population in New York society such as

the Kennedys and Kissingers. Their visits to Box tree hotel and restaurant is an indication of the

first-class services offered by the hotel. The large dining areas with privacy, the pricing structure,

and its exclusivity made it a perfect place for the power players in New York to meet and carry

out their business deals. The deluxe rooms with suites and the high standards of service delivery

made the hotel to stand out and put to shame some of the top quality hotels around.

Overall Challenges:

The major challenge Box tree faced was in December 1993, when employees went on

strike, agitating for their rights. They claimed that the hotel owner denied them commissions,

which were testified by Baruch when he found out that the system cut down the amount payroll

for every employee to save payroll expenses of up to $100,000. The pickets were holding

placards in front of the premise chanting and making noise that everyone should boycott the Box
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tree until their grievances were met. Baruch discovered that the employees union was behind this

strike and he had to deal with them or close the doors of Box tree. However, he chose to be smart

and did not bow to the pressure. He recruited new employees who were willing to work beyond

the picketing line. However, during the strike, Box tree went into financial losses due to few

customers. The employee union had to fight back by reporting the hotel to the authority siting

lack of necessary licenses of operation. Every other day, government inspectors visited the hotel.

The first to arrive were the health inspectors, followed by denial of liquor license after being

accused of selling liquor to the underage. Baruch and his lawyer were always in the courtrooms

fighting to sustain the business. All these problems forced Paege to dig deeper into his pocket so

that his hotel could not run out of business.

Overall Customer Service Kudos:

The customer services at the hotel are of top quality. The excellent staff at the hotel takes

the trouble of looking up to their customers. The diner experiences are culinary and gastronomic

with service staff guiding the customers through the meals. The services are highly formal with a

high level of customer to server contact.

Overall Customer Service Challenges:

The main challenge experienced at the beginning of the business was to deal with the

high number of customers visiting Box tree. During the strike, the customer service reduced due

to few service staffs who were employed to replace some of the staff on strike to keep the

business going. The few staff employed could also reduce the amount of payroll expenses since

the business was on its knees. Moreover, some of these employees had little or no experience in
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working in first-class hotels since most of them were housekeepers in people homes and this

means there was minimal customer to server contact.

Solution Recommendation:

Box tree should think of becoming unionized to save itself from pressures coming from

the employees union even if it is a small business as paege puts it. After Baruch welcomed back

some of the striking workers into seniority positions, jealousy among the replacement workers

and the returning strikers is bound to build up since the replacement workers will feel like

Baruch is not fair enough since they have been there with him through the tough times when his

staff were on strike. However, the replacement staff should understand that the returning strikers

were there before them. Therefore, Baruch has to adopt a healing mode that will help everybody

to practice forgiveness, healthy communication, and understanding in order to solve all the

problems. This will help the staff to rebuild trust amongst them, which will allow them to work

in a conducive atmosphere for the success of the business. Paege should also understand that a

good leader is one who satisfies his employees and to achieve customer satisfaction, it all starts

with employee satisfaction.