Habiba Ahsan

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Maqbool

Sidra Shahid

Saleha Afzal Butt

Sameer Abdal Malik

Zain Noor

Principals of Management

Lahore School of Economics

Ms. Shandana Sheikh

BBA II Section H

November 22nd, 2010

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 Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Allah Almighty who enabled us to complete this tedious and difficult task. We
express our great feelings of respect to our instructor Ms. Shandana Sheikh who’s helping
attitude and consistent reminding of the importance of this project in our grades motivated us and
enabled us to complete this research.

We are highly thankful to Mr. Irshad Bashir Butt (GM, pearl continental hotel), Mr. Sabih
Durrani (head of marketing department, PC Lhr.), Ms. Shahista Shakeel (management authority),
and Mr. Sami Saboor (deputy GM, PC Lhr.) for their precious time and valued information and
views.

We are obliged to our parents for their support without which we would never be able to do this
and lastly we thank Lahore School of Economics which provided us with the proper
infrastructure to work and complete our research.

Abstract

For the final research project we have selected Pearl Continental hotel Lahore, after contacting
the Deputy General Manager there, Mr.Mirza Mansoor. Pearl Continental which is a part of
Hashoo Group of Industries which was founded by Mr.Sadruddin Hashwani in 1960 is one of the
finest and well known hotels with many chains in almost all metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Not
only is this 5 star hotel chain well known for its fine dining and friendly environment but it is
also famous for its excellent management which is supported by an efficient up to date
Information System that connects all the chain of hotels in Pakistan not only to each other but
also to the Hashoo Group.

In this research report we would be looking into the hierarchical structure of Pearl Continental,
the Chain of command, Span of Control and the Organizational structure, also we would be
discussing how data is managed using specially designed software’s and how do they help the
management increase their efficiency to provide their guests with best quality services. We
would also be researching upon the means of the communication network being used there, and
also identify the components of intranet, extranet and how communication takes place within
various departments inside and outside of the organization. And lastly how decisions are made

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will be discussed with an example quoted by Mr.Shahid Waqar who is the head of IT department
there.

Introduction

The Pearl continental chain in Pakistan is owned by the Hashwani group under the holding
company Pakistan Services Ltd (PSL) and Hashwani Hotels ltd respectively which is a part of
the Hashoo Group. The Pearl chain was acquired by the group in 1985, at a time when the image
of the hotel was deteriorating due to service inefficiencies. At this time the name of the hotel was
changed from Hotel Intercontinental to pearl continental, and several efforts were made to
upgrade its image. These included a new decor and fresh landscaping of the hotel grounds as
well as upgrading of food and service through training of relevant personnel.

Pakistan Services Ltd. is one of the companies of Hashoo Group that owns five hotels and was
incorporated in 1958 and is quoted on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

The first hotel pearl continental (PC) was built in 1964 in Karachi. In 1967-68 PC Lahore and
Rawalpindi came in to existence respectively and in 1975 another PC hotel emerged in
Peshawar. In 1985 Hashoo Group took over this company through privatization and changed the
name from Inter Continental to Pearl Continental (PC). In 1990 PC Bhurban came into operation,
in 1995 the expansion of Lahore was in operation. Hence Pearl Continental Hotel is the largest
and Pakistan's only five star chains.

The board of directors felt that future expansion of the holding company PSL should not be
focused on the hotel industry but also be related with tour operations, rent-a-car services and
travel agencies. Accordingly a travel agency, Trans Air Travel, based in Karachi has also
recently been acquired by the Hashoo group to promote the hotel chain.

Pearl continental hotel is one of the most innovative hotels of Pakistan, where art and originality
elegantly combine to offer you some rare spectacles. It is located in the busy districts of the

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country, the sparkling facade and chic environment always fill their customers with wonder. 

Pearl continental is an experience created to meet your every desire, where you are much more
than a name on register - where service is not just a word; it is a way of being. The style
surrounds you and makes you feel sophisticated. You can actually feel the vibes of glamour,
movie stars and intellectuals that give this hotel a vibrant history. Pearl Continental Hotel
possesses a legacy that makes you realize that there is no place like this and makes your
experience is essentially and uniquely yours. 

Pearl continental is described as the symbol of sensuality with respect to their rooms[ CITATION
sha10 \l 1033 ]. Their rooms are decorated in a regal style with warm earth tones, the
accommodation of the Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore echoes the comfort and luxury, allowing
guests to submerge themselves into a truly world class experience. 
All guest rooms are decorated with sumptuous antiques and artwork and have luxurious marble
bathrooms with separate shower and oversized bathtub. Each guest room and suite is equipped
with a state-of-the-art electronic system high-speed Internet access, international dialing,
electronic safe, minibar, and executive-style desk. Rooms are divided into two types:

1. Standard and atrium rooms

Pearl continental is preeminent for serenity and celebrations[ CITATION Saq09 \l 1033 ]. In addition
to a comfortable homely stay, the hotel provides their customers with the best of facilities and
services that enable you to perform your business and indulge in luxury while being our guests. 
Our guests can avail of the following facilities:

- Laundry/Dry Cleaning
- Jewellery & Gem Shops
- Concierge
- Car Rental
- Parking
- Baby Sitting
- Travel Desk

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- Airline Offices
- In-House Doctor
- Florist
- Bookstore
- Pharmacy
- 24 Hour Room Service
- Authorized Money Changers

moreover, the hotel has a fully equipped business centre open 24 hours with all the latest in
office automation and secretarial services.

Structure and type of organization

The organizations are classified in the following categories of departmentalization on the basis of
their structure:

 Functional
A structure in which positions are grouped according to their main functional or
specialized area is functional structured organization.
 Divisional
In this structure positions are grouped according to the similarity of products, services or
markets. The divisional structure is broken down into three areas: product, market, and
geographic.
 Hybrid
Structure adopting both divisional and functional structures at the same management
level is hybrid structured organizations.
 Matrix
Matrix structure groups employees by both function and product. Matrix structure is the
most complex of the different organizational structures. It is also termed as two
dimensional structures.

The organization that is selected for the project is Pearl- continental hotel which is a hybrid
structured organization i.e. the combination of divisional and functional structure. The research

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study and analysis suggests PC to be the hybrid structure organization because the management
of the PC is segmented into different departments according to the specialization of employees
like HR department etc. And each department has employees which are grouped according to the
similarity of their tasks and jobs. The employees are grouped according to the similarity of
products, services and markets.

Every department has a head of department which supervise the employees working under him.
The head of department is also referred as the manager of that department, who also dictates the
commands of the senior management and supervisors to the employees and operatives working
under him.

The structure and type of the organization also differs on the basis that whether the organization
is

 Tall
 Flat
 Centralized
 Decentralized

The research study and analysis advocates pearl- continental to be the flat and decentralized
organization because PC is segmented into different departments that has a head of department
who heads the operatives working in that department working under him. The decision making
process in PC is usually under taken by the lower management and the heads of every
department which suggests it to be a decentralized organization.

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 Mission Statement

“We are committed to dynamic growth and service excellence built upon our heritage of
traditional hospitality. We strive to consistently meet and surpass guests, employees and others
stakeholders expectations. We feel pride in making efforts to position Pakistan in the forefront of
the international arena”[ CITATION Sad10 \l 1033 ].

Sadruddin Hashwani

(Chairman Hashoo Group of Industries)

The mission statement clearly shows that it aims at becoming world-class leader in the service
industry. It also shows that management at Pearl-Continental hotel believes in an exceptional
workforce to provide world-class service to their customers. They want to ensure that not only
they satisfy their customers but also delight them.

(The Mission statement has been plagued in almost all employees’ conference rooms)

Vision statement

“We’ll open the doors; you’ll see what’s in the store.”[ CITATION Sad10 \l 1033 ]

We will feel pride in making efforts to position Pakistan in the forefront of the international
arena [ CITATION Irs10 \l 1033 ].

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Hierarchical Structure

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 Departments

PC has 8 departments functional independently in all hotel chains:

1. Food & Beverage

2. House keeping

3. Front office, reception

4. Personnel/HR

5. Finance/sales

6. Marketing

7. Information Technology

8. Guest relations/Customer services

All the departments in Pearl Continental are synchronized with each other via a strong intranet
and specially purchased software’s from Microsfidelio, a German company which has provided
PC with two operating systems MICROS and OPERA which connects all departments from the
Front desk at reception to the back office with the HR, Finance and the Marketing departments
where all the accounting is being done.

**Role of Software in the Management Process

Micros

MICROS Series Electronic Point-of-Sale (EPOS) is one of the software been used in PC.PC is
using MICROS version which is MICROS 3.2.1.Mainly MICROS is used only in the outlets
such as Marco Polo, Nadia, Loyal elephant, Backers boutique and so forth. PC has not wasted its
capital on MICROS because it is been used in all the 18 outlets which work 7 days a week. Basic
requirement of the outlets in not to analyzes the data but to input it and get an immediate output.
MICROS is been operated on the computer terminals with touch system, which is quite popular

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nowadays in cell phones as well. These terminals are called work station 5 (WS5) with a
powerful embedded software application based on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Basically the main purpose of this software is that it manages guest checks, staff productivity,
menu offerings, and restaurant operations easily and economically. It works in the front office.

Major benefits of using MICROS are as follows:

 Reduce Labor Cost

 Prevents Loss

 Increase Efficiency

 Improves reporting

 Enables Flexibility

 Optimized Hardware

 Provides Return on Investment

OPERA

The second software in use is OPERA. PC is using the 4.0 version of OPERA. PC‘s decision of
using OPERA is exactly right because OPERA is designed by Microsfidelio for hotels.

Key points for using OPERA at PC are:

Reservations: With this module PC staff can easily make and update individual, group, and
business block reservations, including deposit handling, cancellations, confirmations, wait-
listing, room blocking, and sharing.

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Profiles: OPERA help the staff with profiles which are complete with demographic records of
guests, business accounts, contacts, and sources. Profiles include addresses, phone numbers,
membership enrolments, and stay and revenue details, guest preferences.

Back Office Interface: Revenue transfers, market statistics transfers, daily statistics transfers,
and city ledger transfers can be easily made from OPERA to a back office system.

Rooms Management: OPERA help keep track of the following; availability of the rooms,
housekeeping, maintenance, and facility management.

Cashiering: the billing details for the WS5 using the MICROS are stored in this module.

Accounts Receivable: Is fully integrated with the OPERA database and includes direct billing,
invoicing, account aging, bill payments, reminder and statement generation, and account
research.

Fully Configurable: The system is controlled by PC. User permissions determine which
features may be accessed by each user and user group (Top management controls the authority of
allotting the span of control to each employee).

(**The following information was provided by the HR department of Pearl Continental

[ CITATION Sha10 \l 1033 ]

Food & Beverage

The 9 restaurants and food outlets under the Food and Beverages department are as follow:

 Bukhara
 The Steak House
 Marcopolo
 Dumpukht
 Taipan
 The Royal Elephant

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  Nadia Coffee Shop
 Café Latte
 In- Room Dinning

The management structure at each restaurant is divided into two parts, the Kitchen and the
Dining area. There is one Top manager in each outlet known as the Restaurant Manager who
overlooks all process’s taking place in the kitchen and the dining area and reports to the
Department head of Food & Beverages. In total there are 18 outlets in Pearl Continental Lahore
which are overlooked by Restaurant Mangers who then at the end of the day report to the
department head. Under the Restaurant Manger are two other posts, the Chief Chef and the
Cashier. The Chief Chef overlooks all the cooking process taking place in the kitchen. Under the
Chief chef there are three sub-ordinate Chefs who take orders from the Chief and have them
executed by the operatives under them. In Bukhara alone there are 38 operatives under the three
Chefs, who prepare the food as dictated to them. What was seen when we visited was that the
operatives were divided into teams under each chef with shifts changing on weekly basis. The
three shifts were Afternoon, Evening and Night.

House Keeping

Pearl Continental Lahore currently has 256 rooms for guests and 34 rooms that are used as
quarters for employees. With the completion of the new phase in the North zone of the hotel the
total room count would then increase to 300+. To manage cleanliness and other room facilities
and maintain high quality services of the rooms to ensure the guests are satisfied, PC has a
separate department known as the Housekeeping. Housekeeping department has the most
important job within the organization because the employees working in this department have
direct contact with the customer. In Pearl Continental there are 5 floors, in Lahore each floor has
approximately 45 rooms. Each floor has one in charge, under whom there are 4 teams. Each team
compromises of 3 people. Now the function of housekeeping is cleaning and making the rooms,
attend to calls of guests and provide them with room service. Out of the 4 teams, 1 team is
always present to attend guests on their call, the rest of the other 3 teams work in hourly shifts of

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8 hours Morning, Afternoon and Night, each shift again changing on weekly basis. The teams are
overlooked by the Floor in-charge who reports to then the head of department of House Keeping.

Goals and Plans

Planning

As we all know that for the success of any organization or anything planning play very important
and vital role.

DECISION- MAKING

The decision-making process in PC is decentralized. The model used is dynamic and flexible,
whereby the top management takes their time while making decisions and explore and evaluate
all the possible alternatives before choosing the rationally economic and feasible solution.
Programmed decisions are made by both the lower and top management with proper consultation
with the lower managers while the daily and routine decisions are made by the line managers at
the middle level with the prior permission or approval from the general manager. In decision
making process manager of a department can take steps to make small planes but these plans
should not be affecting the much to the department.

Concept of planning in PC

PC uses almost all horizons of planning including:

 Short term
 Long term
 Strategic planning

Short term

In PC hotel short term planning means that every manager of a department can take steps to
make small planes but these plans should not be affecting the much to the department as
planning need some crucial steps, the department manager discuss it with his upper management
and also take suggestions from his employees too. In case of the over all hotel planning the hotel
administration 1st discuss it with lower management and take suggestions from the employees

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and then start operating on it.

Long term

The long term planning is more like the strategic planning which is taken by the Board of
Governors.

Strategies of pearl continental hotel

When we talk of strategic plan we mean plans that are organization wide, establish overall
objectives and position in organization in terms of its environment. Here we will discuss
different strategies adopted by the management of Pearl Continental in different departments.
Strategic Planning

Pearl Continental When we talk of strategic plan we mean plans that are organization wide,
establish overall objectives and position in organization in terms of its environment. Here we
will discuss different strategies adopted by the management of Pearl Continental in different
departments. Strategic Planning Without a strategy the organization is like a ship without a
rudder, going around in circles. It’s like a tramp that has no place to go to. Joel Ross and Michael
Kami “The processof developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals
and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.” It relies on developing a clear
mission statement supporting objectives, a sound business portfolio and coordinating functional
strategies. As we know Pearl Continental has a strong image among five star hotels and has an
established name in the hotel industry. Pearl Continental has an effective strategic planning at its
centralized and decentralized levels. It has defined its goals and objectives at every level and
tries to compete with the changing marketing opportunities. The strategic planning of the hotel is
turned into detailed supporting objective that guide the whole hotel. Each separate division of the
hotel decides what portfolio of the business and services is best for the hotel and how much
support to give each separate division. Each separate division and services rate must develop
detailed marketing and other department plans that support the wide plan of the hotel

Pearl Continental The effective strategic planning originates:

 To be the market leader

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  Commitment for their employees in developing their career
 Innovation
 To maintain excellent services based upon our heritage of traditional hospitality
 To maintain excellent services based upon our heritage of traditional hospitality
 To strive to consistently meet and surpass guest, employees and other stake holder’s
expectations
 The standard of the services must meet the expectation of the consumer
 The standard of the services meet the expectations at the international level
 To launch a new service while holding cost to its minimum
 Meeting all the needs of the consumers A strategic plan, then, is the bridge to the future,
which an organization uses to lead from what it is to what it envisions it can become
 Pearl continental hotel does not go for tactical and operational planning and goals. All the
planning and goal setting is done by the top management thats why PC go for strategic
planning and goal setting. The middle and lower management narrate the strategic plans
and goals set by the top management level.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Each Hotel has its own SWOT based on their location, season etc. As for the SWOT Analysis of
PC Lahore is concerned. SWOT Analysis is basically done to find out that do they have
sufficient resources to cover their weakness and still achieve their objectives.

Strengths

 One of the major strength of PC is that PC is in the hotel market for the past 36 years.
 Have most experience employees available at suitable job, which have proven their
loyalty with PC.
 PC as compare with its other competitions share the advantage of having 300+ luxuries
rooms with big bathrooms which no hotel in Pakistan is able to accomplish.
 PC carries out loyalty program such as keep track of its customers.
 Keep history record of customers who avail the room facilities.

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  Records like if a customer prefer something different in his/her room as compared to their
customers, that is kept in record and when the same customer returns after sometime, his
requirement made in history is available which then turns into customers satisfaction as
he does not need to specify his requirements all over again.
 Major strength in identifying the name of PC as a continental hotel has been played by
PC Bhurban.
 PC bares the great advantages on the performances on maintaining good health clubs,
swimming pools, squash courts, tennis courts and all other sports activities.
 It also maintains excellence in good quality food restaurants.
 The major strength of PC is its voice mail card locking system for perfect security.

The strength of PC can be the weakness of other hotels as well as the weakness of PC itself in
some sectors.

*PC has a long lobby, which helps it not to look crowded - Sheraton small lobby.

Weaknesses

As fashion changes need, demand and idea also changes.

 As PC being an old hotel in history bares a difficult weakness, as old customers do not
prefer to visit the same hotel over and over.
 They prefer to experience something new.
 The well known saying "OLD IS GOLD" turns out to be the strength of this hotel as it
diverts the attention of its customers back to the luxuries provided as some people are use
to the atmosphere.
 The other weakness of PC lies in its telephone system, which is again an old system.
 As Sheraton enjoys the great advantage of having latest technology that is it Tele-
communication system.

Opportunities

The opportunities that PC faces are not much due to its well-established position.

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  Events organized in the city gives PC Lahore a great advantage as number of
customers/people increase and PC get an opportunity to show its loyalty and services to
its customers.
 One of the opportunities grasped by events being held in the city is that as tourist increase
and in the same way people book rooms and avail services rendered by PC.
 Seminars are again a great opportunity for PC as worldwide seminars are being held in
the city or in PC Banquet halls which again help PC to show its quality services and in
this way people across the world come to the city and book rooms for themselves.
 Parities wedding and other extra circular activities are opportunity to help PC recognize
its name.
 PC looks up to these opportunities whole-heartedly.

Threats

If in the market there are more than two or more brands of the same type or there exist an
alternative for that product then organization/companies face threats among themselves or
among customers but one can always plan before hand.

 Threats of new entrants like Islamabad Serena are a threat for PC but PC has planned
different alternatives for its threats.
 One of the biggest threats PC has to face is Sheraton being its next door neighbor in
Karachi.
 As if things don't work with customer at PC like if they bargain for a room and PC is
unable to fulfill their satisfaction then they can always walk across the road and just
knock.
 Law and order situation can also be a threat such as strikes. If law and order not maintain
throughout the country people around the world would avoid to come to Pakistan and if
people won’t come then there will be no tourist so who will rent the rooms.

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 [ CITATION Mir10 \l 1033 ]

PC'S COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

The basis of industrial competitive analysis model is that an enterprise exists within an industry
and to succeed, it must effectively deal with the competitive forces that exist within the particular
industry.

Based on the forces involved in Porter's model we are going to judge the PC hotel in Lahore.

THREATS OF NEW ENTRANTS:

 New hotels that are five stars and go for the same customer categories as the Pearl
Continental.
 Access to raw material or resources, otherwise readily available being rerouted to other
hotels.

THREAT OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES:

 New restaurants popping up all over Lahore have put a strain on the cafes and restaurants
within the hotel.
 Rival hotels within the vicinity have offered the same C.S as PC.
 The ability to differentiate between products and services being offered by PC and other
hotels has become smudged.

BUYER'S POWER (Customer):

 People anywhere in the world love the ability to bargain and as such put the provider in a
tough position.
 The bargaining power of a customer coming to PC is intensified because the Sheraton is
right across the street, at moments like this when the customer threatens to walk-out; the
person at the counter has the authority to offer certain deals in order to keep that
customer.
 The above statements verify the fact that the customer is price sensitive and has many
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 alternative sources of supply.

SUPPLIER'S POWER:

 The number of supplier's with the right products has decreased over the years and such
has allowed the party concerned to increase prices without fear of denial from the hotels.
 The government has also increased the tax quota on the business to 12.5 %, thereby,
allowing the suppliers a valid excuse for "price jack."
 Since other suppliers/ resources are not readily available, the hotels have an increased
overhead cost.

Recommendations:

 PC should send its managers/employees to abroad for training purposes as in will

CONCLUSION

In conclusion we would like to say that Pearl Continental Hotel is a place where one can enjoy
their time in a very soothing and relaxing mood. The hotel is a perfect place for all kind of
activities. You can have business meetings, lunches, dinners, conferences, parties, functions and
seminars. PC has a good name, reputation and trust. There is an arrangement of each and

19
everything you can imagine, which makes it a role model. The management and employees are
very courteous and customer-oriented. They serve you at their best level and certainly you will
feel the difference.

In this report we gave the overview of PC, and learnt about their management style, culture, their
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we also analyzed their critical success factors,
and competitive analysis.

In the SWOT analysis we came to know about their strengths and the weaknesses of a hotel
industry and especially of PC hotels. We learned how they can enhance their strengths and
overcome their weaknesses. SWOT analysis also gives an idea of opportunities and the threats
for PC. We analyzed how they can take full advantage of the opportunities and guard against the
threats.

Analysis of Critical Success factor (CSF) helped us to learn about the factors which are essential
for success for a hotel. CSF helps define business strategies. It is basically those things which
must go right if the objectives are to be achieved.

We analyzed the competitive forces in an industry to help define an appropriate overall business
strategy. It basically helps to determine which of the forces pose a major threat to the future
success of the business and in what way.

References
Butt, I. B. (2010, november). (r. team, Interviewer)

Chaudhry, S. (2010). Pearl Continental Hotel. Lahore.

Hashwani, S. (2010, november). chairman, PC Lahore . (r. team, Interviewer)

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Mansoor, M. (2010, november). deputy general manager, PC lahore. (r. team, Interviewer)

Shahid, A. (2010, november). HR manager. (r. team, Interviewer)

Shahid, S. (2009). Pearl Continental Hotel. Karachi: Personal Publication.

Appendix A

Interview with Mr. KhawajaRaza

Q no. 1. What are the key values of PC hotel’s culture?

Ans: Integrity, loyalty, personality, safety and security etc.

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Q no. 2. Which meathods PC use to evaluate and analyze job?

Ans: We have revised JD’s, evaluation test, interview session and job specification system
to evaluate jobs.

Q no. 3. Do you have any management assessment center at PC?

Ans: No.

Q no. 4. How do you train and develop your employees?

Ans: We have proper training and development centers.

Q no. 5. What type of decisions you usually take, under the conditions of uncertainty or risks?

Ans: It depends upon the type and intensity of the risk.

Q no. 6. Describe tools you use for planning.

Ans: We use plans like business plan or goal setting plan etc.

Q no. 7. For which type of activities you adopt strategic, operational, specific, standing or single
use plan?

Ans: For development, growth etc. we usually opt strategic planning.

Q no. 8. Do you allow employees to participate in developing plans in your department?

Ans: Yes, we specially arrange a session in which managers and employees share their ideas.

Q no. 9. What type of communication is there between managers and employees?

Ans: Two way communication, managers and employees communicate through emails and
also arrange sessions and meetings, we also have contract signed with mobilink and all
managerial level employees are provided with a postpaid sim card used for internal and external
communication, also all senior managers have Wireless Motorola radios that are used to
communicate within the hotel.

Q no. 10. How you motivate your employees for good performance?

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Ans: We have employee, supervisor of the month, departmental champion, honesty awards etc.

23